Born in Salford, Lancashire, Evets joined the Merchant Navy after leaving school, but was kicked out after three years, after jumping ship twice in Japan and spending his eighteenth birthday in a Bombay brothel He then briefly worked delivering pipes before starting his acting career, initially by forming a street theatre company with two friends. As there was already a Steve Murphy on the books of Equity, he decided on the stage name Steve Evets: "The first thing that popped into my head was 'Steve' backwards, so I put that on the form." In 1987, Evets was stabbed through the liver, lung and diaphragm, glassed in the face and had his throat cut in a pub fight. He spent time on a life support machine.