Wright was educated at the voluntary-aided Roman Catholic boys' school John Fisher School in Purley, Surrey and was in the same class as the artist and sculptor Diarmuid Bryon O'Connor and DJ Gilles Peterson. Following school, Wright attended the University of Exeter, graduating in English and Drama .
Wright became a showbiz journalist with The Sun and gained his own column with The Daily Mirror in the 1990s. In 1998 Wright reviewed the play The Dead Monkey starring David Soul, calling it "without doubt the worst West End show", despite the fact that he had never seen it. In 2001 Soul won £30,000 in a libel case against Wright.
Wright wrote Martine McCutcheon's best-selling autobiography Who Does She Think She Is?.
He left The Daily Mirror in 2000 to launch mykindaplace.com .
Wright has hosted the eponymously titled daytime talk show The Wright Stuff for Channel Five since 2000. It was on this show that Wright inadvertently revealed John Leslie as the celebrity alleged to have raped Ulrika Jonsson. Police investigated the claims against Leslie, but never charged him in connection with the Jonsson case. Wright and Leslie later made fun of the situation in the video for Bo' Selecta's 2003 Christmas single. Wright is notable for his often implied sense of rivalry with fellow daytime TV star Jeremy Kyle (often referred to by Wright as 'Jeremy Vile').
Wright presented Radio 2's arts and culture show The Weekender until July 2008. He also presents BBC1 current affairs series Inside Out London.
Wright is an outspoken critic of ITV's Britain's Got Talent, referring to it as "Britain Exploits the Mentally Challenged", and even more so of The X Factor, which he feels takes over all the papers. He often mentions his rival TV presenter Jeremy Kyle on his programme, always in a negative way, and refers to him as "Jeremy Vile". Wright has said: "I’d say our show is about the normal world while he plumbs the depths of inbred, alkie, junkie wasters with rampant sex lives."
As a joke, he suggested sharing the new Emirates Stadium, which belongs Arsenal FC, with a prison due to the shortage of jail cells. He has also repeatedly suggested reintroducing the stocks to publicly humiliate criminals.
Wright has associated himself with several political causes over the years. He is a long-time supporter of nuclear disarmament in the UK and was involved in marches in the early 1980s. He is also a fierce critic of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, especially over his decision to take Britain into the Iraq War, which Wright marched against (although he later interviewed Blair on his programme during the 2005 general election campaign). He has also criticised Blair’s substantial earnings since leaving office, in particular his involvement with the UI Energy Corporation, which has oil interests in Iraq, and often refers to the millions of “socialist pounds” Blair has made. On 2 September 2010, he described Blair as being "as cunning as a fox, slick as the Gulf of Mexico and just as oily". He has dubbed Blair's memoir A Journey"The Book of Lies".
Wright is a supporter of gay rights. He has criticised Premier League footballers in England for refusing to get involved in campaigns to defeat homophobia in English football.
A fanatical fly-fisherman and British motorcycle fan, Wright has also maintained contacts with a variety of characters from the free festival scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Wright is a live music enthusiast and regularly attends concerts. The first band he saw live was Queen at Purley, London in 1979. He regularly appears on stage with space rockers Hawkwind; Wright released a single with the band Spirit of the Age in 2006, and is credited on the Hawkwind album Take Me To Your Leader released the same year. He regularly mentions the band on The Wright Stuff. He is also a big fan of Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, Sparklehorse, Gong, Grateful Dead, Focus, Giant Sand, Lambchop, Will Oldham, Patti Smith, Echo & the Bunnymen, Steve Hillage, Buzzcocks, Cardiacs, Nick Cave, Budgie and Midlake.
He claims Here & Now’s Fantasy Shift is the record that changed his life.
Wright married his long term partner Music Executive Amelia Gatte in 2010.
