Ryan was born in Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, North East England in 1961. He enrolled into the army as a boy soldier at 16. His cousin Billy was in the 23rd SAS Reserves, and he invited Ryan to come up and "see what it's like to be in the army". Ryan ended up doing this nearly every weekend, almost passing selection several times, but he was too young to continue selection and do 'test week'. Eventually he became old enough and passed selection into the 23rd SAS. Shortly afterwards he began selection for the Regular 22 Regiment, and after passing he joined 'B' squadron and trained as a medic. However, needing a parent regiment, he, along with another soldier who had joined the SAS from the Royal Navy, planned to spend three months with the Parachute Regiment but after 3 weeks they were ordered to return to 22nd SAS to go with 'B'Squadron to Aden where they parachuted into the sea to secure the beach heads whilst the British pulled out. He then spent seven years carrying out both covert and overt operations with the SAS in various theatres of the world.

Ryan's travels included southeast Asia, training Pol Pot troops to attack Vietnamese forces that had pushed them out of Cambodia. As journalist John Pilger wrote, "Incredibly, the Thatcher government had continued to support the defunct Pol Pot regime in the United Nations and even sent the SAS to train his exiled troops in camps in Thailand and Malaysia. In March, the former SAS soldier Chris Ryan, now a best-selling author, lamented in a newspaper interview 'when John Pilger, the foreign correspondent, discovered we were training the Khmer Rouge in the Far east [we] were sent home and I had to return the £10,000 we’d been given for food and accommodation.'"

Ryan was a team member of the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero patrol in Iraq, during the First Gulf War. The patrol was to "gather intelligence;... find a good LUP (lying up position) and set up an OP" on the main supply route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq, and eventually take out the Scud Missile Launchers, but they were compromised and subsequently headed towards Syria on foot.

Ryan made SAS history with the "longest escape and evasion by an SAS trooper or any other soldier", covering more than SAS trooper, Jack Sillito, had in the Sahara Desert in 1942. Chris Ryan Completed a trek from an Observation point in the Iraq Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq to the Syrian Border.

During his escape, Ryan received injuries from drinking water that was contaminated with nuclear waste. Along with suffering severe muscle atrophy he lost a potentially fatal and subsequently did not return to front line operational duties. Instead, he selected and trained potential recruits, eventually being discharged from the SAS in 1994.

Chris Ryan was also a member of a small SAS team is sent to protect the British Embassy in the troubled African nation of Zaire. Whilst there, the SAS were tasked with ensuring that all British diplomatic staff are safely evacuated from the country during the troubling period before the First Congo War. This operation was meant to last 3 days But ended up lasting a month.

Since leaving the SAS in 1994, Ryan has written several books. Such as; The One That Got Away, his non-fiction account of the Bravo Two Zero mission, including fictional bestsellers such as Strike Back (2007) and Firefight (September 2008). He has also written fictional books for teenage readers, such as the Alpha Force Series, and "Code Red". Chris combines successfully writing his bestselling books, along with security lectures and presenting television documentaries including Hunting Chris Ryan.

In 2005, Ryan presented a Sky One show called How Not to Die, detailing how not to die in various life-threatening situations, including violent burglary, mugging, and violent attacks. It was described as "One of the most thought provoking programs of its time", by Chris Thompson in 2006. He acted as the military advisor on the video game Covert Strike, helping to make the game more accurate to real-life military operations, tactics, weapons and equipment. Ryan both co-created, and starred in the TV show Ultimate Force, was a military, technical advisor and played the role of Blue Troop leader Johnny Bell in series 1. He trained and managed a six-man team to represent Team GB at Sure for Men's Extreme Pamplona Chase in Spain, and starred in Hunting Chris Ryan with the BBC which later aired on the Military Channel as 'Special Forces Manhunt'. Ryan produced several programmes titled Terror Alert: Could You Survive, in each programme he demonstrated how to survive disasters including, flooding, nuclear terrorist attack, mass blackouts, and plane hi-jacking.

He lectures in business motivation, and is currently a bodyguard in the USA. In 2009 Ryan starred in "Elite World Cops" aired on Bravo. In the show, Ryan spends time with various law enforcement agencies around the world, giving him an insight to the war on terrorism and drug trade but from a law enforcement perspective.

Ryan has a new program currently showing on Bravo called Armed and Dangerous.

He has written a romantic novel, The Fisherman's Daughter, under the pseudonym Molly Jackson.

Ryan has written the following books:

Non-Fiction

• The One That Got Away (1995)
• Chris Ryan's SAS Fitness Book
• Chris Ryan's Ultimate Survival Guide
• Chris Ryan fight to win (2009)

Fiction

Geordie Sharp (character)

• Stand By, Stand By (1996)
• Zero Option (1997)
• The Kremlin Device (1998)
• Tenth Man Down (1999)

'Matt Browning (character)

• Greed (2003)
• The Increment (2004)

Other

• The Hit List (2000)
• The Watchman (2001)
• Land Of Fire (2002)
• Blackout (2005)
• Ultimate Weapon (2006)
• Strike Back (2007)
• Firefight (2008)
• Who Dares Wins (2009)
• The Kill Zone (2010)
• Agent 21 (2010)

'Code Red

• Flash Flood (2006)
• Wildfire (2007)
• Outbreak (2007)
• Vortex (2008)
• Twister (2008)
• Battleground (2009)

Alpha Force

• Alpha Force 1: Survival (2002)
• Alpha Force 2: Rat-catcher (2002)
• Alpha Force 3: Desert Pursuit (2003)
• Alpha Force 4: Hostage (2003)
• Alpha Force 5: Red Centre (2004)
• Alpha Force 6: Hunted (2004)
• Alpha Force 7: Blood Money (2005)
• Alpha Force 8: Fault Line (2005)
• Alpha Force 9: Black Gold (2005)
• Alpha Force 10: Untouchable (2005)

Quick Reads

• One Good Turn (2008)