Chernin married Megan (née Brody) in 1980. He is ethnically Jewish.

Chernin joined Fox in 1989 from Lorimar Film Entertainment, where he served as president and chief operating officer. Earlier, he served as executive vice president of programming and marketing for Showtime/The Movie Channel. Prior to Showtime, Chernin was vice president of Development and Production at the David Gerber Company. He began his career in publishing, first as associate publicity director of St. Martin’s Press and later as an editor for Warner Books.

It was rumored in the media that Chernin was going to leave his position at News Corp. by June 2009, when his contract expired, and that he would be replaced in the position by media executive James Murdoch, youngest son of Rupert Murdoch. On February 24, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Peter Chernin made the decision to leave News Corporation after 20 years, to pursue independent entrepreneurial ventures. On June 4, 2009 Chase Carey was named Chernin’s successor at his position.

Since his departure from News Corp. in 2009, Chernin has been the chairman of his own company, The Chernin Group (TCG). TCG’s current assets include Chernin Entertainment, an entertainment production company; a majority stake in CA Media, an Asia-based media investment company; and several strategic investments in U.S. based technology and media companies including Pandora, Fullscreen, Tumblr, Barstool Sports, and Flipboard.

Chernin was approached in October 2010 by the Tribune Company to be either CEO or chairman of the board. There was also media speculation about Chernin’s having a role in Yahoo!’s future after Carol Bartz’s abrupt departure in September 2011. At the All Things Digital’s AsiaD Conference in Hong Kong on October 20, 2011, Chernin dismissed that he was interested in pursuing opportunities with the company.

TCG launched CA Media in November 2010, which aims to strategically build, manage, and operate media, entertainment, and technology businesses in Asia. In July 2011, CA Media invested in the Hong Kong-based mixed martial arts promoter Legend Fighting Championship. In April 2012, CA Media acquired a 49 percent stake in Endemol India with the goal of making it the leading TV, film and digital content production company in India. At the same time CA Media also invested in Only Much Louder, a music, live events and youth media company in India. In April 2014, AT&T partnered with The Chernin Group to invest $500 million in online video services.

The company’s first feature film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was released in August 2011. and has grossed more than $480 million at the worldwide box office. Chernin Entertainment produced Parental Guidance, a comedy starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, which was released in December 2012, the sci-fi thriller from Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, and The Heat, starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.

In April 2012, Chernin sold a minority stake of TCG to strategic investment partners Providence Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm, and other private investors.

In April 2013, Chernin made a bid of around $500 million for Hulu, an online video streaming service. TCG is listed as an investor in Tumblr, which WSJ.com reported on May 19, 2013 would be sold to Yahoo for US$1.1 Billion. On December 2, 2013, TCG announced that they had acquired the anime streaming site Crunchyroll in an effort to expand their online video assets. The acquisition was rumoured to priced at around $100 million. On January 7, 2016 it was announced by David Portnoy in a video that Chernin Media was acquiring a majority stake in the popular website Barstool Sports and moving the headquarters to New York City.

Chernin has donated over $100,000 to the Democratic Party, candidates & associated organizations, as well as hosting Barack Obama at his home for a fundraiser in 2013. He also supported Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In 2018, Chernin, Jesse Jacobs, and Michael Kerns of The Chernin Group formed TCG Capital Management, an investment advisory firm. TCG manages private equity investments in the media, entertainment, technology, sports and consumer sectors.