Fuentes was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to Mexican parents. His father was a diplomat, and he spent his childhood in various capital cities in the Americas: Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago, Quito, and Buenos Aires. As an adolescent he returned to Mexico, where he lived until 1965. He was married to film star Rita Macedo from 1959 till 1973, although he was an habitual philanderer and allegedly, his affairs - which he has claimed included film actresses such as Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg - brought her to despair. The couple ended their relationship amid scandal and Fuentes then married journalist and now famous interviewer Silvia Lemus. Following in the footsteps of his parents, he became a diplomat in 1965 and served in London, Paris (as ambassador), and other capitals. In 1978 he resigned as ambassador to France in protest over the appointment of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, former president of Mexico, as ambassador to Spain. He has also taught courses at Brown, Princeton, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cambridge, and George Mason University. He is currently teaching at Brown University. He was also a friend of the US sociologist C. Wright Mills, to whom he dedicated his book The Death of Artemio Cruz.

He fathered three children. Only one of them survived: Cecilia Fuentes Macedo, born in 1962, now working in television production. A son, Carlos Fuentes Lemus, died from complications associated with hemophilia in 1999 at the age of 25. A daughter, Natasha Fuentes Lemus (born 31 August 1974), died of an apparent drug overdose in Mexico City 22 August 2005, at the age of 30.

When he was 30 years old Fuentes published his first novel, La región más transparente, which became a classic contemporary novel. It was innovative not only for its prose, but also by having a metropolis, Mexico City as its main character. This novel provides insight into Mexican culture, which is made up of a mixture with the Spanish, the indigenous and the mestizo, all cohabiting in the same geographical area but with different cultures.

The author describes himself as a pre-modern writer, using only pens, ink and paper. He asks "Do words need anything else?" Fuentes mentioned that he detests those authors who from the beginning claim to have a recipe for success. In a speech on his writing process he mentioned that when he starts the writing process he begins by asking "Who am I writing for? "

He published Las Buenas Conciencias in 1959. This is probably his most accessible novel depicting the privileged middle classes of a medium-sized town, probably modelled on Guanajuato.

His 1960s novels, Aura (1962) and La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962) are acclaimed for using experimental modern narrative styles (including the second person form) to discuss history, society and identity.

In 1967, during a meeting with Alejo Carpentier, Julio Cortázar and Miguel Otero Silva, Carlos Fuentes launched the project of a series of biographies depicting Latin American caudillos, which would be called Los Padres de la Patria. Although the project was never completed, it provided the base for Alejo Carpentier's Reasons of State (El recurso del método, 1974) and various other Dictator Novels (novelas del dictador).

His 1985 novel Gringo viejo, the first United States bestseller written by a Mexican author, was filmed as Old Gringo (1989) starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.

In 1994, he published Diana, The Goddess Who Hunts Alone, a fictionalized account of his alleged affair with Jean Seberg. However, the authenticity of this adulterous liaison has been questioned several times.

Fuentes regularly contributes essays on politics and culture to the Spanish newspaper El País and the Mexican Reforma. He is a canny observer of Mexico-US relations and critic of the United States' policies in Latin America.

Novels

• La Región Más Transparente (Where the Air is Clear) (1958) ISBN 978-9705800146
• Las Buenas Conciencias (The Good Conscience) (1961) ISBN 978-9707100046
• Aura (1961) ISBN 978-9684111813
• The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962) ISBN 978-0374522834
• Cambio de piel (A Change of Skin) (1967)
• Zona sagrada (Holy Place) (1967)
• Cumpleaños (Birthday) (1969)
• Terra Nostra (1975)
• La cabeza de la hidra (The Hydra Head) (1978)
• Agua quemada (Burnt Water) (1980)
• Una familia lejana (Distant Relations) (1980)
• Orquídeas a la luz de la luna (1982)
• Gringo viejo (The Old Gringo) (1985)
• Cristóbal Nonato (Christopher Unborn) (1987)
• Ceremonias del alba (1991)
• The Campaign (1992)
• El naranjo (The Orange Tree) (1994)
• Diana o la cazadora solitaria (Diana: the Goddess Who Hunts Alone) (1995)
• La frontera de cristal (The Crystal Frontier: A Novel of Nine Stories) (1996)
• Los años con Laura Díaz (The Years With Laura Diaz) (1999)
• Instinto de Inez (Inez) (2001)
• La Silla del Águila (The Eagle's Throne) (2003)
• Todas las Familias Felices (Happy Families) (2006), ISBN 987-04-0557-6
• La Voluntad y la Fortuna (2008), ISBN 970-58-0446-5

Short stories

• Los días enmascarados (1954)
• Cantar de ciegos (1964)
• Chac Mool y otros cuentos (1973)
• Agua quemada (1983) ISBN 968-16-1577-8
• Dos educaciones. (1991) ISBN 84-397-1728-8
• Los hijos del conquistador (1994)
• Inquieta compañía (2004)
• Las Dos Elenas

Essays

• La nueva novela hispanoamericana (1969) ISBN 9682701422
• El mundo de José Luis Cuevas (1969)
• Casa con dos puertas (1970)
• Tiempo mexicano (1971)
• Miguel de Cervantes o la crítica de la lectura (1976)
• Myself With Others (1988)
• El Espejo Enterrado (The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World) (1992) ISBN 8430602658
• Geografía de la novela (1993) ISBN 9681640446
• Tres discursos para dos aldeas ISBN 950-557-195-X
• Nuevo tiempo mexicano (A New Time for Mexico) (1995) ISBN 9681902319
• Retratos en el tiempo, with Carlos Fuentes Lemus (2000)
• Los cinco soles de México: memoria de un milenio (2000) ISBN 84-322-1063-3
• En esto creo (2002) ISBN 9705800871
• Contra Bush (2004) ISBN 9681914503
• Los 68 (2005) ISBN 030727415

Theater

• Todos los gatos son pardos (1970)
• El tuerto es rey (1970).
• Los reinos originarios (1971)
• Orquídeas a la luz de la luna. Comedia mexicana. (1982)
• Ceremonias del alba (1990)

Screenplays

• ¿No oyes ladrar los perros? (1974)
• Pedro Páramo (1968)

English

• Magic Lens. The Transformation of the Visual Arts in the Narrative World of Carlos Fuentes. Lanin A Gyurko (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2010).
• The Shattered Screen. Myth and Demythification in the Art of Carlos Fuentes and Billy Wilder. Lanin A Gyurko (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2009).
• Lifting the obsidian mask : the artistic vision of Carlos Fuentes. Lanin A Gyurko, 2007
• Mexican Writers on Writing. Margaret Sayers Peden (Trinity University Press, 2007).
• Carlos Fuentes' The death of Artemio Cruz (Modern Critical Interpretations). Harold Bloom, 2006
• Fuentes, Terra nostra, and the reconfiguration of Latin American culture. Michael Abeyta, 2006
• Carlos Fuentes's Terra nostra and the Kabbalah: the recreation of the Hispanic world. Sheldon Penn, 2003
• The narrative of Carlos Fuentes : family, text, nation. Steven Boldy, 2002
• Carlos Fuentes, Mexico and modernity. Van Delden, Maarten, 1998
• The postmodern Fuentes. Helmuth, Chalene, 1997
• Specular narratives : critical perspectives on Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Mario Vargas Llosa. Roy Boland, 1997
• The writings of Carlos Fuentes. Williams, Raymond L, 1996
• A Marxist reading of Fuentes, Vargas Llosa, and Puig. Durán, Víctor M, 1994
• Author, text, and reader in the novels of Carlos Fuentes. Ibsen, Kristine, 1993
• Carlos Fuentes : life, work, and criticism. González, Alfonso, 1987
• Carlos Fuentes. Faris, Wendy B, 1983
• Carlos Fuentes, a critical view. Brody, Robert, 1982
• The archetypes of Carlos Fuentes: from witch to androgyne. Durán, Gloria, 1980
• Carlos Fuentes (Twayne World Authors Series). Guzmán, Daniel de, 1972

Spanish

• El mito en la obra narrativa de Carlos Fuentes, Francisco Javier Ordiz, 2005
• Los signos del laberinto : Terra nostra de Carlos Fuentes, Carmen V Vidaurre Arenas, 2004
• Países de la memoria y el deseo : Jorge Luis Borges y Carlos Fuentes, Carmen Perilli, 2004
• Carlos Fuentes : perspectivas críticas, Edith Negrín, 2002
• Carlos Fuentes desde la crítica, Georgina García-Gutiérrez, 2001
• El lenguaje que somos : Carlos Fuentes y el pensamiento de lo hispanoamericano, Estela Marta Saint-André, 2001
• Los escritos de Carlos Fuentes, Raymond L Williams, 1998
• Carlos Fuentes : 40 años de escritor, José Francisco Conde, 1993
• Interpretaciones a la obra de Carlos Fuentes, Ana Maria Hernández de López, 1990
• Fabulación de la fe : Carlos Fuentes, Fernando García Núñez, 1989
• La obra de Carlos Fuentes : una visión múltiple, Ana María Hernández de López, 1988
• Lo fantástico en los relatos de Carlos Fuentes : aproximación teórica, Gladys Feijoo, 1985
• El cuento mexicano contemporáneo : Rulfo, Arreola y Fuentes, Bertie Acker, 1984
• La narrativa de Carlos Fuentes, Aida Elsa Ramírez Mattei, 1983
• Los disfraces : la obra mestiza de Carlos Fuentes, Georgina García-Gutiérrez, 1981
• Nostalgia del futuro en la obra de Carlos Fuentes, Liliana Befumo Boschi, 1974
• Aproximación a la literatura del mexicano Carlos Fuentes, Luján Carranza, 1974
• Carlos Fuentes y la realidad de México, Fidel Ortega Martínez, 1969
• Constancia: Y Otras Novelas Para Virgenes, 1990