Austin was born Steven James Anderson in Victoria, Texas, on December 18, 1964. He is of English, German, Irish, and Swedish descent. His parents, Beverly (née Harrison) and James Anderson, divorced when he was around a year old. His mother moved to Edna, Texas, where Austin would spend most of his childhood, and she remarried to Ken Williams in 1968. Austin adopted his stepfather’s surname and legally changed his name to Steven James Williams, though he would legally change it again to Steve Austin later in life. He has three brothers named Scott, Kevin, and Jeff, and one younger sister named Jennifer. Kevin is less than a year younger than Austin, leading Austin to theorize in his autobiography that their father may have left because he could not handle another child so soon. After finishing his education at Edna High School, he got a football scholarship at Wharton County Junior College, followed by a full scholarship at the University of North Texas.

Deciding to become a wrestler, Austin joined Chris Adams’ school in the Dallas Sportatorium, where Adams also wrestled for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Adams’ training was purely technical, teaching Austin the moves, but nothing relating to kayfabe (still somewhat a guarded secret at the time) or business. His first lesson in that came from Tony Falk, the referee in his 1989 televised WCCW debut against Frogman LeBlanc, who called the spots to lead him to a pinfall and a $40 payday.

Austin then left the USWA in 1990 and signed with WCW the next year. It was during this time Austin adopted the “Stunning” nickname that followed him to WCW.

Austin married his high school girlfriend Kathryn Burrhus on November 24, 1990. However, he later pursued a relationship with English wrestling manager Jeanie Clarke, with whom he was working. His marriage to Burrhus was annulled on August 7, 1992, and he married Clarke on December 18, 1992. They had two daughters, Stephanie (born 1992) and Cassidy (born 1996), before divorcing on May 10, 1999. Cassidy lives with Clarke in England, while Stephanie resides in Los Angeles. Austin also adopted Jade, Clarke’s daughter with former boyfriend Chris Adams. Jade lives in the U.S. with her husband and son.

Austin was originally paired with a valet named Vivacious Veronica, but was later joined by Jeannie Adams, known as “Lady Blossom”. Just weeks after his debut, Austin defeated Bobby Eaton for his first WCW World Television Championship on June 3, 1991 and later that year joined Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance. Austin lost the WCW World Television Championship to Barry Windham in a two out of three falls match on April 27, 1992, but regained the title from Windham on May 23 and enjoyed a second lengthy reign as champion before losing the title to Ricky Steamboat on September 2, while The Dangerous Alliance disbanded shortly thereafter. At Halloween Havoc on October 25, Austin replaced Terry Gordy, teaming with “Dr. Death” Steve Williams to wrestle Dustin Rhodes and Windham for the unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championships. The teams wrestled to a thirty-minute time limit draw.

In January 1993, Austin formed a tag team known as The Hollywood Blonds with Brian Pillman. They won the unified NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championship on March 3 by defeating Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas and held the title for five months. At Clash of the Champions XXIII on June 16, the Blondes faced Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in a two out of three falls tag team title match and were defeated, but retained the title as one fall had been determined by a disqualification. At Clash of the Champions XXIV on August 18, Austin and Pillman were scheduled to defend their title against Anderson and Paul Roma, but a legitimate injured Pillman was replaced by Steven Regal, with whom Austin lost to Anderson and Roma.

With Pillman still injured, Austin joined Colonel Robert Parker’s Stud Stable. After Pillman returned, Austin betrayed and defeated him in a singles match at Clash of the Champions XXV on November 10. At Starrcade on December 27, Austin defeated Dustin Rhodes in a two out of three falls match with two straight falls to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Austin lost the title to Ricky Steamboat on August 24, 1994 and was scheduled to face Steamboat in a rematch for the title at Fall Brawl on September 18, but Steamboat was unable to wrestle due to a legit back injury and Austin was awarded the title by forfeit. His second reign with the title ended just minutes later when he lost to Steamboat’s replacement, Jim Duggan, in a match that lasted thirty-five seconds. Austin unsuccessfully challenged Duggan for the United States Heavyweight Championship at both Halloween Havoc on October 23 and Clash of the Champions XXIX on November 16.

After returning from a knee injury in early 1995, Austin took part in a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight title, where he defeated Duggan via countout in the first round, but lost to Randy Savage in the quarterfinals. In June 1995, Austin was fired by WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff after suffering a triceps injury while wrestling on a Japanese tour—Bischoff and WCW did not see Austin as a marketable wrestler. Additionally, Bischoff thought Austin was hard to work with.

Austin joined the WWF after Kevin Nash and Jim Ross helped convince WWF’s owner Vince McMahon to hire him in late 1995. He debuted on January 8, 1996 episode of Raw and was awarded the Million Dollar Championship by his manager, Ted DiBiase. Austin had his debut match on January 15 episode of Raw where he defeated Matt Hardy. Initially, Austin wrestled as The Ringmaster, but his full name was acknowledged by announcers, although it was not part of his official billing. While making his first pay-per-view appearance at the Royal Rumble on January 21, he was scripted to be among the final four wrestlers in the ring, which could have given him an early push; however, Austin failed to hang onto the ropes after Fatu clotheslined him over and slipped out of the ring early. Austin wrestled Savio Vega on March 11 episode of Raw to a double count-out, before defeating Vega in his first WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania XII on March 31. At In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies on April 28, Austin lost to Vega in a rematch. At In Your House: Beware of Dog on May 26, Austin lost a Caribbean strap match to Vega. Under the pre-match stipulations, DiBiase was forced to leave the WWF, allowing Austin to forge his path. Austin later told announcer Dok Hendrix that he had purposely lost the match to rid himself of DiBiase, who in reality was headed for rival promotion WCW.

The night after on Raw, Austin was kayfabe fired by Bischoff on medical grounds. The next day, Austin gave an interview on WWE.com officially announcing his retirement from wrestling, although he stated that he and Vince McMahon had reached an agreement which would see Austin appear in a non-wrestling role weekly. About Bischoff firing him on Raw that week, he said that although firing was for storyline purposes, he admitted the medical problems read out on Raw were legitimate, and mainly related to his injury sustained at SummerSlam in a match with Owen Hart in August 1997, which had begun to seriously plague him since late 2001.

During his early years as a wrestler, Austin was a technical wrestler. However, after Owen Hart accidentally injured Austin’s neck in 1997, Austin changed his style from technical to brawler. His most famous finishing move is the Stone Cold Stunner. During his time as The Ringmaster, he used the Million Dollar Dream as a finisher since it was Ted DiBiase’s finisher. During his time in WCW, Austin used the Stun Gun (a move innovated by Eddie Gilbert as the Hot Shot) and the Hollywood & Vine (a standing modified figure-four leglock) as his finishers.

On the Raw Is War after Austin won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, Vince McMahon presented him with a new title belt and warned Austin that he did not approve of his rebellious nature and that things could be done “the easy way or the hard way”. Austin gave his answer in the form of another Stone Cold Stunner. This led to a segment a week later where Austin had pledged a few days prior in a meeting to “play ball” with McMahon, appearing in a suit and tie, with a beaming McMahon taking a picture of himself and his new corporate champion. The entire thing was a ruse by Austin who in the course of the segment proceeded to tear off the suit, tell McMahon it was the last time he would see Austin dressed like this, punch his boss in the “corporate grapefruits” and take another picture of the two of them while McMahon was doubled over in pain. In April 1998, it appeared Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no-contest when Dude Love made an appearance. This led to a match between Dude Love and Austin at Unforgiven: In Your House, where Austin hit McMahon with a steel chair, then the following month they had a rematch at Over the Edge: In Your House for the WWF Championship. Austin managed to retain the title despite McMahon acting as the referee and his “Corporate Stooges” (Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson) as timekeeper and ring announcer, respectively. McMahon continued to do everything he could to ruin Austin and he finally scored a big victory for his side at King of the Ring. Austin lost the WWF Championship to Kane in a First Blood match after The Undertaker accidentally hit him with a steel chair while the ref was incapacitated, despite Austin having knocked Kane unconscious and thwarted an earlier intervention by Mankind.

In April 2000, Austin appeared at Backlash, attacking Triple H and Vince McMahon to help The Rock reclaim the WWF Championship. After Austin’s official return at Unforgiven, Commissioner Mick Foley led an investigation to find out who ran Austin down at Survivor Series. Rikishi admitted to being the driver because “he did it for The Rock”. Rikishi felt that Austin occupied the top spot in the company and with Austin gone, The Rock, a fellow Samoan, would finally be able to ascend to the top of the company. At No Mercy, Austin faced Rikishi in a No Holds Barred match. During the match, Austin attempted to drive his truck into Rikishi, who by that time was a bloody mess. Before he could, he was stopped by officials, with the match being deemed no contest. Austin was (kayfabe) arrested and later bailed out by Commissioner Foley. During a handicap match against Rikishi and Kurt Angle, Triple H came down with the apparent intention of teaming with Austin. After clearing the ring, Triple H smashed his sledgehammer over Austin’s head and revealed it was him behind the whole scheme, devised to shield the WWF Championship from Austin and end his career. At Survivor Series, Triple H had plotted to run Austin down again during their match but his plot failed when Austin lifted Triple H’s car with a forklift, then let it drop 20 feet. Austin won his third Royal Rumble in January 2001, last eliminating Kane. His rivalry against Triple H ended at No Way Out in a Three Stages of Hell match, with Triple H beating Austin two falls to one.

On September 13, 2000, Austin married wrestling manager Debra Marshall. On June 15, 2002, Marshall called the police to the couple’s home and told officers that Austin had hit her on the head, back, and legs, and then stormed out of the house before police arrived. According to police reports, Marshall suffered a swollen cheek and eye and bruises to her back and shoulder. Austin called the house while officers were there and was told he was in trouble, but declined a request to return to the house or report to the police station. On August 14, 2002, he was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. He pleaded no contest on November 25, 2002, and was given a year’s probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service. Marshall told Fox News that Austin had beaten her three times and that the 2002 incident was the result of roid rage. She also stated that WWE knew of the abuse, but worked to conceal the bruises on her face and kept her from revealing that Austin had hit her as it would cost the company millions of dollars. Austin responded to the incident in 2003 through WWE Raw Magazine, citing his regret over their relationship breaking down and stating his love for Marshall. He also ridiculed allegations that the incident was alcohol-related. He filed for divorce from Marshall on July 22, 2002, which was finalized on February 5, 2003.

One of Austin’s taunts during the Attitude Era was to show the middle finger. In August 2001, he began using his catchphrase “What?” to interrupt wrestlers who were trying to speak, which fans have since widely used when they want to mock or heckle wrestlers during promos.

In the 2002 Royal Rumble on January 20, Austin entered at number nineteen and lasted until the final four, but was eliminated by Kurt Angle. He returned to the ring and hit the remaining competitors with a steel chair. On the January 28 episode of Raw, he defeated Angle to earn a shot at Chris Jericho’s Undisputed WWF Championship at No Way Out.

Austin no-showed the Raw after WrestleMania and took a week-long break without the company’s consent, citing exhaustion. McMahon claimed his actions caused fury among fans who had paid to see him that night. Austin returned on April 1, 2002 episode of Raw, the first of the new “brand extension” era. The show was centered on which show he would sign with, and he ultimately chose Raw. Austin entered a feud with The Undertaker that resulted in a number-one contender’s match for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, which Austin lost despite having his foot on the rope when he was pinned. He would later be betrayed by Big Show, who went on to rejoin the nWo and Ric Flair. Austin then defeated Big Show and Flair in a handicap match at Judgment Day. In a May 2002 interview on WWE’s Internet program, Byte This!, Austin stunned the company and fans by launching a verbal attack on the direction the company was heading in and slated the creative team for not using him the way he felt they previously did. The commentators struggled to keep Austin’s opinions on a neutral wavelength, leading to the WWE apologizing to fans for the outburst and stated it was not part of Austin’s current or upcoming storylines. McMahon responded a week later on the same show playing down the outburst, claiming that Austin was merely the type of wrestler who was occasionally difficult to work with.

Austin confessed he had a major rift with Triple H’s role in the company upon his return in 2002 but insisted as of 2003 they resolved their issues. Also, he claimed a brief dispute with The Rock was resolved quickly upon his return, and that none of his disputes with the talent roster continued or played the major part in his departure. In February, Austin returned at No Way Out by defeating Eric Bischoff. Austin would wrestle only one match between then and WrestleMania, in another short match against Bischoff on Raw. He entered a feud with The Rock, who returned about the same time as a smug, Hollywood sell-out heel. The Rock was offended that the WWE fans voted for Austin in a WWE Magazine poll to determine the ‘Superstar of the Decade’. He expressed his frustration at having never defeated Austin at WrestleMania, and challenged Austin to a match at WrestleMania XIX. Austin was then defeated by The Rock at WrestleMania XIX, in Austin’s final match.

For the remainder of 2002, Austin kept a low profile and did not make any public appearances. It was reported, however, by the end of the year, Austin and McMahon met and resolved their differences. He then agreed to return to the company in early 2003. In an interview with WWE Raw Magazine, he announced deep regret over the situation that led to his departure and how he had left, and deeper regret over inaccurate speculation regarding his alleged grudges held against other WWE wrestlers, claiming he had no problem with Scott Hall rejoining the company. However, he admitted he still held strong reservations about his singles match with Hall at WrestleMania only lasting seven minutes and felt the build-up to the match did not live up to the expectations of his fans or Hall’s and was angered by speculation suggesting he disagreed with Kevin Nash re-joining the company, insisting he and Nash have always been good friends. He, however, maintained his displeasure with the storylines and creative changes the WWE had imposed around the time of his departure. In an interview with Vince McMahon on his podcast in 2014, Austin revealed for the first time that McMahon had fined him $650,000 upon his return, but he was able to lower the amount to $250,000.

In 2003, Austin denied allegations that he was an alcoholic, stating that wrestling fans had mistaken his character’s excessive consumption of beer as a real-life trait of his and insisting that he drinks responsibly. On March 26, 2004, he was accused of assaulting his then-girlfriend Tess Broussard during a dispute at his home in San Antonio, Texas, according to a police report. Broussard claimed that Austin grabbed her and, after she began struggling, threw her to the ground. She landed on her hands and knees, and later told officers she had injured her right hand. She provided a written statement to police, who photographed her injuries. No arrests were made and no charges were filed in the case.

On April 3, 2005, Austin made his first appearance on WWE programming in a year at WrestleMania 21 when he was confronted by Roddy Piper on Piper’s Pit. They were both interrupted by Carlito, who insulted them. This resulted in Carlito receiving a Stone Cold Stunner from Austin and Piper throwing him out of the ring. The segment ended with Austin and Piper celebrating with beer until Austin gave Piper a Stone Cold Stunner. Austin was involved in the concluding segment at ECW One Night Stand in which he had a beer bash with the ECW locker room and brawled with the anti-ECW invaders, led by Eric Bischoff. He returned at Raw Homecoming, delivering Stone Cold Stunners to Vince, Shane, Stephanie, and Linda McMahon. An angle including Jim Ross being fired led to a match in which Austin agreed to face Jonathan Coachman at Taboo Tuesday, with the stipulation of Ross regaining his announcing job had Austin won and Austin losing his job had he lost. Austin hurt his back before the match and could not wrestle unless he was heavily medicated, so the match was canceled. To explain away his failure to appear at Taboo Tuesday, Vince McMahon said on Raw that Austin had been involved in an accident, thus preventing him from competing. Batista substituted for Austin, defeating Coachman along with Vader and Goldust. The stipulation was dropped due to Austin not competing. He returned to WWE briefly to face John “Bradshaw” Layfield (JBL) in a beer-drinking contest at March 18, 2006, episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event XXXII. Austin inducted Bret Hart into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006.

Austin had guest roles on Celebrity Deathmatch and Seasons 4 and 5 of CBS’s Nash Bridges, where he played San Francisco Police Department Inspector Jake Cage. He has appeared on V.I.P and Dilbert. His motion picture debut was in a supporting role as Guard Dunham in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. Austin had his first starring film role, as Jack Conrad, a dangerous convict awaiting execution in a Salvadoran prison, who takes part in an illegal deathmatch game that is being broadcast to the public in the 2007 action film The Condemned.

Austin returned to WWE programming (appearing on Raw, ECW, and SmackDown!) in March 2007, partially to promote his starring role in the release of WWE Films’ production The Condemned. On March 31, he inducted Jim Ross into the WWE Hall of Fame. At WrestleMania 23, Austin was the special guest referee for the match between Bobby Lashley and Umaga. If Lashley lost, his manager Donald Trump’s head would be shaved, and if Umaga lost, his manager Vince McMahon’s head would be shaved. During the match, Austin delivered Stone Cold Stunners to Umaga, Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Trump. Lashley won the match; Trump, Austin, and Lashley then shaved McMahon’s head. Austin ended the show by hitting the Stone Cold Stunner on both McMahon and Trump. He then appeared in a video on June 11 episode of Raw as part of “Mr. McMahon’s Appreciation Night”, where he shared his thoughts on his past feuds with McMahon. Austin appeared on August 18, 2007 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event, as a possible illegitimate child of McMahon. He hit McMahon and Jonathan Coachman with Stone Cold Stunners before leaving. He then appeared at SummerSlam to aid Matt Hardy in battling MVP in a beer-drinking contest. The match ended in a no-contest after Austin handed a beer to MVP and gave him the Stone Cold Stunner. Austin made another appearance at Cyber Sunday, where he guest refereed a World Heavyweight Championship match between Batista and The Undertaker. On November 5 episode of Raw, Austin made an appearance to confront Santino Marella for criticizing The Condemned. The argument ended as Marella received a Stone Cold Stunner from Austin, who then walked backstage only to return with a Budweiser beer truck to hose down Marella and his valet Maria with beer. Austin appeared on the Raw 15th Anniversary special, attacking Vince McMahon.

In 2007, the Wrestling Observer newsletter reported that he had legally changed his name to Steve Austin. In late 2009, he married his fourth wife, Kristin. They split their time between the Broken Skull Ranch 2.0 (Austin’s ranch in Nevada) and a home in Marina Del Rey, California. The original Broken Skull Ranch was located near Tilden, Texas, and was sold in 2019.

On October 26, 2008, at Cyber Sunday, Austin was the special guest referee during a match between Batista and Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship.

On January 12, 2009 on Raw, Austin was announced to be the first member of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2009. He was inducted by his long-term on-screen rival Vince McMahon, who referred to Austin as “the greatest WWE Superstar of all time”. During the induction, Austin said he was officially closing the door on his wrestling career and starting a new chapter in his life.

Austin appeared as the guest host of Raw on March 15, 2010, moderating a contract signing between Vince McMahon and Bret Hart for their match at WrestleMania XXVI. In early 2011, Austin was announced as the head trainer and host for the revival of Tough Enough. On the March 7 episode of Raw, Austin interrupted the contract signing of the special guest referee for the Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler match at WrestleMania XXVII, originally scheduled to be John “Bradshaw” Layfield; Austin attacked Layfield and signed the contract instead. Although Lawler won by submission, the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision and disqualified Lawler, claiming that Austin had “overstepped his authority”. Austin appeared on Raw the following night with the cast from Tough Enough, while also getting into an altercation with The Miz and Alex Riley. On the June 6 episode of Raw, Austin appeared to declare Andy Leavine as the winner of Tough Enough. He also served as the special guest referee in the evening’s tag team main event of John Cena and Alex Riley against The Miz and R-Truth, hitting Miz with a Stone Cold Stunner and aiding Cena. However, the Anonymous Raw General Manager chimed in and its ringside mouthpiece Michael Cole announced that since Austin had abused his authority as referee, The Miz and R-Truth had won via disqualification. Austin did not take kindly to his decision being overturned and gave Cole a Stone Cold Stunner, which was followed with another Attitude Adjustment courtesy of Cena. Austin and Cena closed the show with a beer bash. Austin later appeared as the special guest General Manager on the “WWE All-Stars” episode of Raw, during which he destroyed the Anonymous Raw General Manager’s laptop by running over it with his ATV.

In 2010, Austin appeared in The Expendables as Dan Paine the right-hand man for the primary antagonist of the film James Munroe, played by Eric Roberts, and bodyguard with Gary Daniels who plays The Brit. Shortly after Austin re-teamed with Eric Roberts and Gary Daniels in Hunt to Kill.

Austin hosted the reality competition show Redneck Island on CMT, which began in June 2012 and concluded with its fifth season in April 2016. In July 2014, his reality competition show Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge premiered on CMT. The show entered into its fifth season in September 2017.

In April 2013, Austin started a weekly podcast named The Steve Austin Show which is family-friendly, while his second podcast The Steve Austin Show – Unleashed! is more adult-oriented. Both shows are available at PodcastOne. As of May 2015, the podcasts averaged 793,000 downloads a week and had nearly 200 million overall downloads. In February 2018, Austin announced that the “Unleashed” version of the podcast had been dropped and merged with the family-friendly version in order to appeal to more sponsors. The podcast has also transitioned to a live broadcast for the WWE Network (podcasted after a short exclusivity period) with monthly specials since 2014.

Austin appeared at WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014, with Hulk Hogan and The Rock in the opening segment.

At WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, Austin (alongside Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels) confronted The League of Nations, with Austin delivering Stone Cold Stunners to Rusev and King Barrett. While Austin was celebrating with Michaels and Foley, The New Day tried to convince Austin to dance with them in celebration. While Austin reluctantly danced along at first, he soon hit Xavier Woods with a Stone Cold Stunner.

During Raw’s 25th anniversary episode on January 22, 2018, Austin appeared and performed a Stone Cold Stunner on Shane and Vince McMahon.

On July 22, 2019, Austin appeared on the Raw Reunion episode and raised a toast alongside Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and various other wrestlers from his era. On September 9, he made an appearance on Raw at Madison Square Garden for the contract signing between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman. Having been interrupted by A.J. Styles, he hit Styles with a Stone Cold Stunner.

In November 2019, Austin began an interview segment exclusively on the WWE Network called the Broken Skull Sessions. The premier episode featured The Undertaker.