Gronkowski was born in Amherst, New York, on May 14, 1989, and was later raised in Williamsville. He is the second youngest son of Gordon Gronkowski and Diane Walters, and is of Polish descent through his father. His father is a former college football guard for Syracuse University from 1977 to 1981 and later founded a high-end fitness equipment business. He is a great-grandson of Ignatius Gronkowski who represented the United States in cycling at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, and held five world records in the sport. Gronkowski’s parents divorced in 2008. His four brothers – Gordie, Dan, Chris and Glenn – all played collegiate sports, and later played professionally.

In 2006, Gronkowski moved to suburban Pittsburgh, where he attended Woodland Hills High School for his senior year. Initially ruled ineligible by the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League because of his transfer, he recorded eight receptions for 152 yards and four touchdowns at Woodland Hills after the ruling of ineligibility was overturned. He was named a SuperPrep All-American, PrepStar All-American, Associated Press Class 4-A all-state, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Fabulous 22”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first-team all-conference, The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) “Platinum 33”, and a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review “Terrific 25” player. He was recruited by Kentucky, Arizona, Clemson, Louisville, Maryland, Ohio State, and Syracuse. Gronkowski graduated from Woodland Hills in 2007 with a 3.75 GPA and 1560 SAT score.

Gronkowski broke the NFL record for touchdowns scored in a single season by a tight end when he had the second three-touchdown game of his career in the Patriots’ Week 13 victory against the Indianapolis Colts. After scoring two touchdowns on receptions from Tom Brady, Gronkowski scored a third touchdown from two yards out. Initially declared a forward pass, the pass was later ruled a lateral pass, which is recorded as a rushing attempt; it was the only rushing attempt of Gronkowski’s career, and his only rushing touchdown. It was the first rushing touchdown by a tight end since Bo Scaife did it in 2006, and the first in Patriots history. At game’s end, Gronkowski had sole possession of the touchdown scoring record, with 14, and shared the record for receiving touchdowns, 13, with Antonio Gates and Vernon Davis.

After graduating from high school, Gronkowski attended the University of Arizona as a Pre-Business major and played for the Arizona Wildcats football team from 2007 to 2009 under head coach Mike Stoops. As a freshman in 2007, he recorded 28 receptions for 525 yards and six touchdowns. His 18.8 yards per reception average was the best on the team and his receiving yards were a school record for a tight end. He was named The Sporting News freshman All-American, Rivals.com freshman All-American, The Sporting News freshman Pac-10, and All-Pac-10 honorable mention player.

Prior to the 2009 season, Gronkowski was placed on the watchlist for the Lombardi Award, which is awarded to the most outstanding college football lineman or linebacker. He missed his junior season in 2009 due to back surgery, which caused his draft stock to fall.

Gronkowski was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, after a draft day trade with the Oakland Raiders; in pre-draft evaluations revealed in May 2016, Raiders scouts had rated Gronkowski as the “best all-around player in the draft”. He became the highest drafted tight end out of Arizona, breaking the mark set by Brandon Manumaleuna in 2001. He signed a four-year contract on July 25, 2010. The deal was worth $4.4 million, with a $1.76 million signing bonus.

Known for his exuberant personality, Gronkowski has been credited in resurrecting the spike as a touchdown celebration and making it his own. His signature “Gronk Spike” has been a product of the less-restrictive scoring celebrations of the NFL compared to high school and college and debuted on September 26, 2010 after scoring his second NFL touchdown. It had become a fan phenomenon, with MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference calculating that Gronkowski’s arm moves 130° with the football leaving his hand at 60 miles per hour delivering 650 pounds of force. He is also known to dance before spiking, and in 2012 imitated a Queen’s Guard which he described as “that little nutcracker dude” before his touchdown celebration while playing at Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom.

Gronkowski took sole possession of the tight end receiving record a week later against the Washington Redskins, in which he caught his 14th and 15th touchdown passes of the season; in total, he had six receptions for a career-high 160 yards. His performance also earned him his first AFC Offensive Player of the Week award, and, for the second week in a row, NFL.com’s “Hardest Working Man” award. He ended the season with 1,327 receiving yards, breaking the previous NFL record for a tight end of 1,310 set by Jimmy Graham of the Saints earlier that same day. He also finished with 18 total touchdowns, 17 receiving—both NFL records for tight ends. Gronkowski’s 18 touchdowns were the second-highest total in the NFL (after Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy, who had 20), and equaled the output of the entire St. Louis Rams team. His 17 receiving touchdowns were the most of any NFL player in 2011, marking the first time in NFL history a tight end had sole possession of the league lead.

On June 8, 2012, Gronkowski signed a six-year, $54 million contract extension, the largest ever for an NFL tight end. The contract included an $8 million signing bonus, but otherwise left the 2012 and 2013 seasons of his rookie contract intact. Gronkowski started the season with receiving touchdowns in consecutive games, a 34–13 victory over the Tennessee Titans and a 20–18 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. In Week 4, he had five receptions for 104 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in a 52–28 victory over the Buffalo Bills. In Week 7, against the New York Jets, he had six receptions for 78 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 29–26 victory. In Week 8, against the St. Louis Rams, he had eight receptions for 146 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 45–7 victory.

In the Patriots’ 59–24 victory in Week 11 over the Indianapolis Colts, Gronkowski had seven receptions for 137 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. Gronkowski broke his left forearm late in the fourth quarter during an extra point He became the third tight end in NFL history (after Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates) to achieve three seasons with at least 10 touchdown receptions, and the first ever to do it in three consecutive seasons. Gronkowski returned to practice in Week 15, and participated in the Week 17 game against the Miami Dolphins, scoring a touchdown. He re-injured his left arm in the first quarter of the Patriots’ first playoff game, against the Houston Texans. He required another operation, and missed the remainder of the playoffs. In 11 games in the 2012 season, Gronkowski had 790 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. He earned a Pro Bowl nomination despite missing some playing time. He was ranked 25th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.

Gronkowski has stated that partying improved his playing abilities noting, “You go out and get refreshed, and it just makes you want to go back out on that practice field and keep going hard.” During an on-air interview with ESPN Deportes after an AFC Championship win in 2012 he responded in Spanish answering, “¡Yo soy fiesta!” (literally, “I am party!”) when asked how he will celebrate the victory. The clip went viral, and his Gronk Nation, L.L.C. later trademarked the catchphrase.

In 2012, PLB Sports began manufacturing “Gronk Flakes”, a frosted cornflakes breakfast cereal named after and endorsed by Gronkowski. Its initial run of 64,800 boxes cost $3.99 each and available at Stop & Shop supermarkets in New England. After the success of the cereals, PLB Sports released “Gronk’s Hot Sauce” in 2015. The following year Gronkowski and Monster Energy released a signature “Gronk” beverage distributed by Coca-Cola.

In February 2013, Gronkowski was diagnosed with an infection in his forearm. He underwent an open procedure—the third on his forearm—in an effort to clear the infection; he was subsequently placed on a course of antibiotics. On May 20, 2013, Gronkowski underwent a fourth surgery on his forearm to replace the hardware implanted in the second procedure and perform tissue biopsies. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that doctors were encouraged the infection had finally resolved. On June 18, 2013, Gronkowski underwent back surgery. He was cleared to play for the October 20, 2013, game against the New York Jets. In his return, he recorded three 100-yard receiving games in a six-game stretch. During a game against the Cleveland Browns on December 8, 2013, Gronkowski suffered a right knee injury after a direct hit from safety T. J. Ward. Gronkowski tore his ACL and MCL, which prematurely ended his 2013 season. In seven games, Gronkowski produced 592 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in six starts. Gronkowski was ranked 41st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.

An erotica novel inspired by Gronkowski called A Gronking To Remember, written by Lacey Noonan, was published in December 2014. It has been read aloud on broadcast by Gronkowski himself on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, as well as comedian Gilbert Gottfried, and rapper Travis Scott.

During the Patriots’ home opener on Thursday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 10, 2015, Gronkowski caught five passes for 94 yards, scoring three of the Patriots’ four touchdowns in their 28–21 victory. The three-touchdown performance was the third in Gronkowski’s career, one shy of wide receiver Randy Moss’s team record of four. It also made Gronkowski the first player in NFL history with multiple three-touchdown-reception games against the Steelers. Through the Patriots’ first six games, all victories, Gronkowski recorded 34 receptions for 533 yards and six touchdowns. He added 113 yards and a touchdown on October 29 in a 36–7 win over the Miami Dolphins. In the Patriots’ first loss of the season, on November 29, 2015, against the Denver Broncos, Gronkowski had to be carted off the field after a right knee injury in the fourth quarter. Initial reports said that the injury appeared to be less serious than it originally looked.

In July 2015, Gronkowski co-wrote a memoir titled It’s Good to be Gronk with Jason Rosenhaus. It was published by Simon & Schuster’s and Derek Jeter’s Jeter Publishing and became a New York Times Bestseller.

Gronkowski has appeared as fictionalised versions of himself in the 2015 film Entourage, a 2017 episode of Family Guy entitled “Gronkowsbees” and has roles in the American crime-drama thriller film American Violence (2017) and You Can’t Have It (2017) among others. He had been a co-host of Crashletes from 2016–17 on Nickelodeon and competed in TBS’s Drop the Mic in 2017. The same year, Gronkowski appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank.

Since 2015, Gronkowski has been in a relationship with model Camille Kostek. They first met at a Patriots charity event on Thanksgiving 2013. The couple lives together in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Gronkowski missed the first two games of the 2016 season due to a hamstring injury and was limited in his next two games. Against the Buffalo Bills in Week 8, Gronkowski scored the 69th regular-season touchdown of his career, which was also his 68th receiving touchdown. The touchdown broke both Patriots franchise records set by Stanley Morgan. In Week 10 against the Seattle Seahawks, he took a big hit to the chest by Earl Thomas which was initially thought to be a punctured lung but turned out to be a pulmonary contusion, keeping him out in Week 11. In Week 12 against the New York Jets, he suffered a back injury at the beginning of the second half, which needed surgery to repair a herniated disk, and was out for the season. He was officially placed on injured reserve on December 3, 2016, after having surgery the previous day. He finished the season with 25 receptions on 38 targets for 540 yards and three touchdowns. His 21.6 yards per reception ranked first among NFL tight ends in 2016. Gronkowski was on injured reserve when the Patriots won Super Bowl LI on February 5, 2017. In the game, the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 34–28, earning Gronkowski his second Super Bowl championship. Despite missing eight games, Gronkowski was still ranked 23rd by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.

Gronkowski has been featured on the covers of GQ, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN The Body Issue, Sports Illustrated, and Muscle & Fitness among others. He was the cover of video sports game Madden NFL 17 published by EA Sports in 2016 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. The cover featured the tight end in his signature touchdown celebration called the “Gronk Spike”.

Aside from his own foundation, Gronkowski has also regularly helped the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Patriots Foundation. In addition, he annually shaves his head for One Mission Buzz Off for kids with cancer. Noted for being generous with his time and resources, Gronkowski has also done several appearances to New England children’s hospitals and schools to support local charities. In 2016, he received the Ron Burton Community Service Award from the New England Patriots for his charitable works and leadership in the local community.

The following week, in a 27–24 win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Gronkowski caught nine passes for a career-high 168 yards. Gronkowski caught three consecutive passes for 69 yards on the Patriots’ game-winning drive, and then caught the ensuing two-point conversion to put the Patriots up by 3. He eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the season for the fourth time in his career, joining Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten as the only NFL tight ends with four 1,000-yard seasons. His performance in Week 15 earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week. On December 19, 2017, Gronkowski was named to his fifth Pro Bowl. He finished the 2017 season with 69 receptions for 1,084 yards, most among tight ends, and eight touchdowns. In January 2018, he was named to the Associated Press’ All-Pro First Team, earning him a $2.5 million incentive that was added to his contract during the 2017 offseason. The Patriots finished with a 13–3 record and earned a first round bye. In the Divisional Round against the Tennessee Titans, he finished with six receptions for receiving 81 yards and a receiving touchdown in the 35–14 victory. On January 21, 2018, Gronkowski suffered a concussion on a 21-yard reception during the AFC Championship Game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, being placed on concussion protocol, and did not return to the game. He would be cleared from the protocol just in time for Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles. During the Super Bowl, he finished with 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns. In the closing seconds, he attempted to catch a Hail Mary pass, but failed, and the Patriots lost 33–41. He was ranked 15th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.

In 2017, Gronkowski executive produced and hosted Verizon’s Go90 original show MVP in which “business owners and entrepreneurs pitch their products or services to a panel of VIP athletes who weigh in with their expert opinion.” It had 36 episodes in two seasons. In July 2018, he joined Discovery Channel’s Shark Week where he helped tag endangered tiger sharks in the Bahamas.

A lifelong wrestling fan, Gronkowski first made a cameo appearance during the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. He hosted WrestleMania 36 which aired on April 4–5, 2020, and won the WWE 24/7 Championship on the second day of the event. After being the longest-reigning champion of the title in a single run, he eventually lost it to R-Truth on June 1, 2020.

On April 24, Gronkowski announced that he had met with head coach Bill Belichick and that he would return for the 2018 season. He returned to practice on June 5 after skipping minicamp, confirming his return. In the opening game against the Houston Texans, Gronkowski had seven receptions for 123 yards and one touchdown in a 27–20 victory. He also fumbled for the first time since 2012. However, in his next six games, Gronkowski had some limited production, totaling 22 receptions for 325 yards with no touchdowns. He scored his second touchdown of the season in the Week 12 victory over the New York Jets. In Week 14, against the Miami Dolphins, he had eight receptions for 107 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 34–33 loss. In the loss, a last-second victory by the Dolphins, Gronkowski unsuccessfully was the last line of defense on the game-winning play. This stemmed from Gronkowski often taking the field as a hybrid safety to defend against Hail Mary passes. In the 2018 season, he finished with 47 receptions for 682 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.

On March 24, 2019, after nine seasons, Gronkowski announced his retirement from the NFL, at 29 years old, via Instagram. He further elaborated on his decision five months later saying that the pain and injuries he had suffered throughout his career had taken a toll on his mental health,

In 2019, Gronkowski entered ESPN’s “World Fame 100” list of most famous athletes in the world; the outlet estimated his endorsement income the past year alone was $8 million.

In August 2019, Gronkowski credited Cannabidiol (CBD) Oil, the non-psychoactive component of cannabis plants for making him pain-free for the first time in a decade, and has advocated sports governing bodies to allow players to use it for pain management.

Gronkowski joined Fox Sports as an analyst for its NFL programming during his year-long retirement in 2019, making his on-air debut during Fox NFL Thursday. Gronkowski also co-hosted Fox’s New Year’s Eve with Steve Harvey in New York in 2019.

On March 26, 2019, he accepted the Merit Award from United Service Organizations which recognizes “individuals of outstanding creative talent who are dedicated to serving others through volunteerism, particularly for military.” On April 6, 2019, he was honored with the Wish Hero Award by the Make-A-Wish Foundation MA/RI for his work on granting the 14 wishes of children with life-threatening sicknesses during his professional football career.

On April 21, 2020, the Patriots, which still held Gronkowski’s rights, traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers along with a seventh-round pick in exchange for a compensatory fourth round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The trade reunited him with his former Patriots quarterback Brady who signed with the Buccaneers a month prior. Head coach Bruce Arians stated that it was Brady himself who was adamant for the team to trade for Gronkowski.

On October 18, 2020, Gronkowski caught five passes for 78 yards and his first touchdown with the Buccaneers in a 38–10 victory over the Green Bay Packers. It was Gronkowski’s first touchdown catch since December 9, 2018 against the Miami Dolphins.

Gronkowski participated as the “White Tiger” on the third season of Fox’s The Masked Singer, making it to the Super Nine. In April 2020, he and his partner Camille Kostek starred in the music video of “I’ll Wait” by Kygo. He also serves as team captain in the sports-based comedy panel game Game On! which premiered on May 27, 2020 on CBS.