Sorbo was born in Mound, Minnesota, USA, the son of Ardis, a nurse, and Lynn Sorbo, a junior high school mathematics and biology teacher. He is of Norwegian descent and was raised in a Lutheran family. Sorbo was educated at Moorhead State University and worked as a model for print and television advertising in the 1980s.

Sorbo started his acting career in the late 1980s making guest appearances in several television series such as 1st & Ten, Murder She Wrote and The Commish. He was considered for and lost out to Dean Cain as Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and was a possible contender for the role of Agent Mulder in The X Files which went to David Duchovny.

In 1994 he shot to fame for playing the role of Hercules in the television film Hercules and the Amazon Women. This was the first in a series of television films that served as pilots for the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys which ran from 1995 to 1999. The series was a huge ratings success throughout different countries becoming one of the most popular syndicated shows in television history and becoming Sorbo's most well-known role. He also guest-starred as Hercules in episodes of the spin-off series Xena: The Warrior Princess and provided the voice of Hercules in the animated film Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus which released in 1998. In between the years playing Hercules he played his first leading film role in Kull the Conqueror (1997).

After the cancellation of Hercules in 1999, he played the starring role of Captain Dylan Hunt in the science-fiction drama series Andromeda from 2000 to 2005. In 2006 he played a recurring role on the final season of The O.C and guest-starred in the sitcom Two and a Half Men. In 2007 he appeared in the direct-to-video film Walking Tall: The Payback which is a sequel to the 2004 film Walking Tall . He reprised his role in the second sequel Walking Tall: Lone Justice which released later that year. He also starred in the Lifetime Channel film Last Chance Café, the Hallmark Channel film Avenging Angel, co-starring his real life wife Sam Sorbo and guest starred as a bounty hunter in the season 2 finale of the series Psych. Most recently, he has appeared in the spoof film Meet the Spartans which opened at Number One at the U.S. box office charts.

Sorbo married actress Sam Jenkins on January 5, 1998. Their first child, 7lb. 8oz. son Braedon Cooper Sorbo, was born on August 22, 2001. Second child, son Shane Haaken Sorbo was born on March 31, 2004. His birth weight of 12lbs. 6oz. broke the Nevada hospital's record. The couple's third child, 8lb. 7oz. daughter Octavia Flynn Sorbo was born on October 16, 2005. Sorbo is the spokesman and chair of A World Fit For Kids!(AWFFK!), a non-profit organization that trains teenagers to become mentors to younger children.