Frears was born on in Leicester, England to an Anglican father and a Jewish mother. Educated at Gresham's School, Norfolk, from 1954 to 1959, he went on to study law at Trinity College, Cambridge, between 1960 and 1963. However, after Cambridge his initial career was in television where he contributed to several high-profile series such as the BBC's Play for Today.

In the mid-1980s he came to prominence as an important director of British and later American films. His first film was the 1972 Gumshoe. But it was his production of the one-off drama My Beautiful Laundrette for Channel 4 in 1985 that led to his notice as a capable film director when the production was released theatrically to great acclaim.

Frears next directed another successful British film, the Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears in 1987, followed by a second film from a Hanif Kureshi screen play, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. The following year he made his Hollywood debut with Dangerous Liaisons. Frears had another critical success with The Grifters, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director but suffered a major box office disappointment with Hero, starring Dustin Hoffman. He also suffered the ignominy of being nominated for a Razzie Award for his direction of Mary Reilly, released in 1996.

He has since directed a number of successful films in both Britain and America, including The Hi-Lo Country (1998), High Fidelity (2000), Dirty Pretty Things (2003) and Mrs. Henderson Presents starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. In recent years he has also occasionally returned to directing for television, perhaps most notably helming The Deal, a dramatised account of the alleged deal between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to decide which of them should become leader of the Labour Party in 1994, for Channel 4 in 2003. His latest film, The Queen, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was also made for television but was given a cinematic release; it achieved immense critical acclaim, box office success and awardage. Frears himself received his second Academy Award nomination for his direction of the film and Helen Mirren won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1987, Frears teamed up with actor Adrian Edmondson for Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, also starring Peter Cook for a 45 minute programme from the cult series The Comic Strip Presents.

Frears has also directed two films based on stories by Roddy Doyle, The Snapper and The Van.

Frears holds the "David Lean Chair in Fiction Direction" from the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England where he teaches frequently. He lives in London with his wife, the painter Anne Rothenstein, and his two younger children Frankie and Lola. He also has two children from his previous marriage to Mary-Kay Wilmers.

Early in his career he made a programme featuring the band The Scaffold and is name checked in thier hit song, Lily the Pink.