Stephen John Sewell was born in 1953 into a working class, Catholic family in Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia.

His first full-length play, The Father We Loved on a Beach by the Sea was performed at La Boite Theatre in Brisbane under the artistic directorship of Rick Billinghurst in 1977.

[4] His first major success was Traitors at the Australian Performing Group's Pram Factory in 1979,[5] followed quickly by Welcome the Bright World, directed by Neil Armfield at the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney in 1981.

[6] Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America, A Play in 30 Scenes was directed by Aubrey Mellor at the Malthouse Theatre in 2003.

[10] He has said of his work, "No artist, no creator, ever sets forth without hope, even if the thing they create appears to be carved out of pitch black despair".