Broad was born 12 weeks prematurely and his life was saved by a doctor called John, after whom he was (middle) named when he survived. Broad originally started his cricketing career as an opening batsman, following in the footsteps of his father, the former England opener and current ICC match referee Chris Broad. It was not until he was 17 and had a growth spurt that he started to consider being a fast bowler. Broad had been associated with Leicestershire since he was 8 years old, having represented them at Under-9 level, and played for Melton Mowbray club Egerton Park, which also produced England seamer Tim Munton. Broad played for Egerton Park from the ages of 9 to 19; in his final two seasons he opened the batting with fellow Leicestershire player Matthew Boyce and spearheaded the attack. He was awarded the Leicestershire Young Cricketers Batsman Award in 1996.

On the fifth day of the 3rd Test against New Zealand, Broad set a new record for the longest time spent at the crease without scoring a run, with 103 minutes out in the middle, facing 62 balls. The previous record was 101 minutes set by New Zealander Geoff Allott against South Africa in 1999.

Broad played his first game for Leicestershire 2nd XI in 2004 just before his 18th birthday and impressed enough to be given a full contract for the following season. Broad continued to impress Director of Cricket James Whitaker and made his first-class debut early in the 2005 season against Durham University Centre of Cricketing Excellence. He returned credible figures of 1/40 from 15 overs. His maiden first-class wicket was that of Nick Lamb. Broad followed this appearance with his first County Championship appearance against Somerset at the familiar location of Oakham.

Broad played for the England Under-19 squad in 2005, facing the Sri Lankan Under-19 squad, and took five for seventeen in the first ’Test’ at Shenley. He was named in the ECB National Academy squad for the winter of 2005–06 and was then called up to the England ‘A’ squad touring the West Indies, as a replacement for James Anderson, who had been drafted into the Test side touring India. In April 2006, Broad was again called up to the England A squad, facing the touring Sri Lankan team.

In the 2006 season Broad took his first 5 wicket haul against championship favourites Surrey and scored his first championship 50 against Derbyshire. His most eye-catching performances were in the Twenty20 Cup, where his economy of 4.50 was the second-best of the season of bowlers with more than 15 overs bowled. In the County Championship Broad played twelve of Leicestershire’s 13 matches until called up for England, and his 44 wickets at an average of 31.38 meant he led his county both in terms of wickets and bowling average. On 23 August 2007 it was announced that Broad would be leaving Leicestershire at the end of the season to join Nottinghamshire, after choosing not to renew his contract and to return to his home county. In the 2013 season, Broad played in the final of the Yorkshire Bank 40 tournament. He was out for a duck and got three wickets in his last over wrapping up the game against Glamorgan.

On 23 August 2006, Broad was included in the England one-day squad for the one-day internationals against Pakistan, and a couple of days later was named Young Cricketer of the Year by the Cricket Writers’ Club. On 28 August, Broad made his first England appearance, in the Twenty20 International against Pakistan. Broad bowled four overs for 35 runs, and took two wickets in two balls, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, and narrowly missed out on a hat-trick, after a lofted shot from Shahid Afridi fell just short of Kevin Pietersen. On 30 August, he made his ODI debut, taking a wicket in his first over, as well as being involved in a last-wicket partnership of 29 with Darren Gough. In the third ODI on 5 September 2006, Broad once again found himself on a hat-trick with the wickets of Abdul Razzaq and Kamran Akmal, but again missed out on the third. He bowled ten overs and ended with figures of three for 57 with one maiden.

Broad also featured in the ODI squad at the end of the West Indies tour of England in summer 2007, taking three for twenty in the first match to take England to a 1–0 lead in the ODI series. In the second ODI he took 2–49 but England lost the match by 61 runs. Broad was expensive in the final match of the series, conceding 71 runs for no wickets.

On 19 September 2007, Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes from one Broad over in a group match at Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban, South Africa, during 2007’s ICC World Twenty20. This was the fourth time the feat had been performed in senior cricket and the only time in Twenty20 cricket. The performance has never been repeated in any form of international cricket against a Test playing nation. The 36-runs from the Broad over helped Yuvraj Singh make the quickest 50 in international cricket, off just 12 balls. Referring to this rare occurrence as “Yuvraj’s magic moment”, Phil Long of BBC’s Test Match Special blogged: “Every so often you have to take off your England sunhat, sit back and enjoy a once-in-lifetime ‘I was there’ moment.”

Broad enjoyed a hugely successful ODI series in Sri Lanka in October 2007, taking eleven wickets in the series at an average of 19.27. He took figures of 2–54 in the first match and followed this up with 2–42 in the second match. In the third match of the series Broad made an unbeaten 20 with the bat and took another two wickets. In the final match of the series he took 3–36 and although England lost the match by over 100 runs, they won the series three-two to record its first ever ODI series win in Sri Lanka. This resulted in Broad making his Test debut against Sri Lanka; in a high scoring game, he took a single wicket, conceding 95 runs in the process as the match ended in a draw.

Broad went on to have an equally successful ODI series against New Zealand. Although England fell to a three-one defeat, Broad was the leading wicket taker and held the highest batting average, 52, in the England team. During the tour of New Zealand in 2008, Broad, along with Alastair Cook and James Anderson, posed naked for the Cosmopolitan paper with just a cricket bat for cover. England won the first Test against New Zealand by 121 runs, with Broad taking figures of 3–54 to help England win the game.

In the first Test against New Zealand on home soil, Broad took three wickets in the match. England won the second match by six wickets, although Broad picked up no wickets in the match. On 6 June 2008, Broad scored his maiden Test fifty, against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, making 64 before being bowled by Chris Martin. In the first ODI against New Zealand Broad took 2–14, before taking another two wickets in the final match of the series, conceding fifty runs in the process.

He made his second Test fifty in July 2008, in the Test series against South Africa, scoring a new best of 76. In the Second Test at Headingley, Broad contributed seventeen runs in the first innings, as England was bowled out on the first day for 203. In the second innings, with the match already lost, Broad top-scored with 67 in an innings that included some impressive drives through midwicket and cover, giving further evidence of his batsmanship. After this, his Test batting average briefly rose above 40. His performances with the bat at the time led pundits to suggest that he may become a genuine all rounder, with Geoffrey Boycott comparing him to Garfield Sobers: “He’s a wonderful player. There’s a little bit of Sobers in him”. Broad was surprisingly dropped for the following Test at Edgbaston, making way for the returning Paul Collingwood. England captain Michael Vaughan said he was left out because of his bowling, but the decision has been criticised: Collingwood was no better a bowler than Broad, and Broad’s batsmanship quite encouraging. Broad duly took seven wickets for Nottinghamshire against Durham while the Test was being played.

On 26 August 2008, he recorded the first five-wicket haul in his international career with best figures of five for 23 against South Africa at his home ground in the second ODI of the series, with England winning the series 4–0 with Broad taking 8 wickets within the series at an average of 18.4 and shooting up to 4th in the ICC ODI world rankings, the highest in his career and the best by any English bowler since Andrew Flintoff in 2003.

On 26 May 2009, Broad was named Man of the Series (one-day) against the West Indies in England. He took a total of six wickets, and England won the series two-nil after the first ODI was rained out. In the adjacent Test series, in which the home side fairly routed its opponents, Broad’s wickets came at an average of just eighteen – “further evidence,” reckoned journalist Nick Hoult, “of the top class international cricketer that lurks within. His bowling, particularly the variety he has added to his game, makes him a potential Ashes star […].”

On 5 June 2009, Netherlands defeated England by four wickets in the first match of the ICC World Twenty20. The Netherlands needed seven to win from the final over with Broad bowling. He spurned two run-out opportunities from the first two balls, and dropped a catch off the third. The Dutch needed two runs from the final ball to win, and got them after Broad picked up the ball in his follow through and, attempting to win the match, overthrew, missing his third run-out opportunity of the over and allowing the batsmen to come back for the match-clinching second run. in the next match against Pakistan, he took 3–17 to help England win by 48 runs. England also beat India by 3 runs. Although Broad failed to take a wicket, he bowled his four overs for just 21 runs to help England secure a narrow victory. England lost their final game of the tournament against the West Indies, with Broad taking 1–20.

In July 2009, Broad was named in The Ashes squad to face Australia for the first Test at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff – his maiden Ashes Test. He scored a 22-ball 19 in England’s first-innings total of 435, but in 32 overs he took just one wicket (that of Michael Clarke, caught behind for 83) as Australia amassed 674 for 6 declared, with four centurions. Nonetheless, his final-day 14 proved crucial, keeping the Australians at bay alongside Paul Collingwood for a minute over an hour before James Anderson and Monty Panesar blocked out the final 11½ overs to salvage an unlikely draw.

Broad started off his summer with his best international innings yet, of 7–72, against the West Indies, at Lord’s, the first test match of the series, was started with a bang as he was able to get a five wicket haul at the home of cricket, Lord’s, becoming only the 8th player to join an elite club of all-rounders to be on both honours boards, after his maiden test century of 169 against Pakistan in 2010.

Stuart’s stepmother Michelle “Miche” Broad (1950–2010) took her own life in July 2010. She was suffering with motor neurone disease.

On 2 August 2013, Broad took his 200th Test wicket, bowling Clarke in the first innings of the drawn third Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

On 22 March 2018, In the first Test against New Zealand, Broad took his 400th wicket in Tests and became the youngest fast bowler to do so.

On 29 May 2020, Broad was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 June 2020, Broad was included in England’s 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the Test series against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Broad was named in England’s thirteen-man squad for the first Test match of the series.. Broad was not selected for the first test, a match that England subsequently lost, and publicly vented his frustration . Broad took 6 wickets after being recalled for the second match of the series, an England win. On 28 July 2020, Broad took his 500th wicket in Test cricket, dismissing Kraigg Brathwaite (who was also James Anderson’s 500th wicket) along with scoring 62 runs and taking 10 wickets in the match including the final wicket, to win the final Wisden Trophy 2-1 . For his efforts Broad was named man of the match and man of the series.