Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland, in 1952, and studied drama at the University of Queensland. He began his career in the early 1970s at Queensland Theatre Company, working alongside Geoffrey Rush. Bille Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours List 2011. He has also received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Queensland. He died on the 13th of January 2013, of cancer.