Jude Law was born in Lewisahm, in South London, England to teachers Peter and Maggie Law, who named him after the central character in his novel "Jude the Obscure" of Thomas Hardy. They in the present time are in the charge of their own drama school in France. Again, his sister Natasha is a well known illustrator and also a celebrated artist. He was educated at 'John Ball' Primary School in Blackheath and Kidbroke School in Kidbroke. Being interested in the concept of acting in1987 Jude Law started acting with the National Youth Music Theatre. The first major stage role of Jude Law was in the role of Foxtrot Darling in Philip Ridley's multi-award-winning The Fastest Cook in the Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of the tragicomedy of Jean Cocteau Les Parents Terribles directed by SeanMathias. This role witnessed the nomination of Jude Law for the Laurence Oliver Award as the Best Newcomer! Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play transferred as an imaginative re-working to Broadway in 1995, and he played opposite actors like Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees and Cynthia Nixon. It is to be noted that this very role earned Jude Law the nomination for the Tony Award and also the Theatre World Award. In the year 1989 Jude Law received his first TV role in a movie based on a book of Beatrix Potter, The Tailor of Gloucester. But it should also be mentioned that did not have to wait long to rise. After some minor roles in the British Television, which included a two-year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI/Channel 4 short The Crane, Law achieved his breakthrough with the British drama, named Shopping which also featured his future wife Sadie Frost.

Jude Law shot to fame in Britain upon the release of the biopic Wilde, in which he portrayed the role of Loed Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's "Oscar Wilde". Following these sucesses he later on moved to Hollywood where his performances including Gattaca by Andrew Niccol, as a frustrated Olympic medalist bound by a wheelchair, in Midnight in the Garden of God and Evil by Clint Eastwood in the role of an ill-fated lover of Kevin Spacey's character, and also in Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition as a sadistic hitman in a critically-praised performance earned accloades from all over the globe. It should be taken into consideration that in his career Jude Law has been nominated for an Academy Award for two times, once as the Best Supporting Actor for his notable performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 2000, and then again as the Best Actor in a leading role for the film Cold Mountain in 2003, both directed by Anthony Minghella. Again it was for the same film he learned to play saxophon and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination together with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano by Renato Carosone and Nicola Salerno.

Jude Law is on the Top Ten List from the 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in the realm of Hollywood. The list was created by James Ulmer, he calls his method The Ulmer Scale. On March 1, 2007, he was honored with the Ordre des Arts et des Letters conferred by the French government, in recognition of his contribution to World Cinema Arts. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres .