Serkis was born and brought up in Ruislip Manor in Middlesex. Serkis was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, and then studied visual arts at Lancaster University. Serkis was a member of The County College and part of the student radio station Bailrigg FM. He joined the Nuffield Studio, getting involved in designing and producing plays.

Serkis first came to wide public notice for his performance as Sméagol / Gollum, in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), for which he provided motion capture movements and voice for the CGI character. His work on The Lord of the Rings started a debate on the legitimacy of CGI-assisted acting. Some critics felt Serkis should have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, since his voice, body language, and facial expressions were used.

Serkis has done critically acclaimed motion capture work in several other films, including the title character in the 2005 version of King Kong (in which he also played the ship's cook in live action) and as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).

He also worked with game developers Ninja Theory on the 2007 release Heavenly Sword, providing the motion capture and voice for King Bohan (the game's main villain).

In 2011, Serkis founded The Imaginarium Studios with film producer Jonathan Cavendish. The Imaginarium is a production company and creative digital studio based in Ealing, London and is dedicated to invention of believable, emotionally engaging digital characters using Performance Capture technology, in which Serkis specialises.

Serkis has served as the second unit director for The Hobbit films and made his directorial debut with Breathe. He also directed the film, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.

Serkis published a memoir about his experiences playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic, published in late 2004. He also appears in the BBC Earth programme, Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors.

Serkis đã xuất bản một cuốn hồi ký về những trải nghiệm của mình khi đóng vai Gollum trong bộ ba phim Chúa tể những chiếc nhẫn, Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic, xuất bản vào cuối năm 2004. Anh cũng xuất hiện trong chương trình BBC Earth, Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors.

According to peoplepill.com