Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade was born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 29, 1972, to Theresa (Glass) Union and Sylvester Union. Her mother managed a phone company and was also a social worker, and her father was in the military. When she was 8, the family relocated to Pleasanton, California, where Union went on to attend Foothill High School and was a varsity athlete in multiple sports. After high school she enrolled at UCLA, graduating with a bachelor's degree in sociology.

While she was attending college, Union's parents divorced after three decades of marriage. But instead of being a traumatic experience, Union has said that the way her parents handled their divorce was ideal — and in fact, helped prepare her for her own role of stepmom later on. "My parents were married 30 years before they got divorced and I’m sure after 30 years there was bitterness and anger and resentment and fear and all sorts of things. But I don’t know because they never made it our issues," she said during an appearance on The View. "They handled their divorce and our subsequent transition into a blended family with grace and dignity and respect. They always put us first and didn’t involve us. I’m lucky that I can just mirror what my parents did and always put the kids first."

Like many actors, Gabrielle Union's career started out with small roles, starring in various episodes of shows like Sister, Sister, 7th Heaven, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Friends. Her first movie roles were in 10 Things I Hate About You, She's All That, and Love and Basketball. But the pivotal role in her early career came when she was cast in the cheerleading drama Bring It On. From there, she became a recognizable face in mainstream entertainment. Her first leading film role was in 2003's Deliver Us From Eva, and later that same year, she starred in Bad Boys II, a role which Union has credited with giving her career a boost.

Meanwhile, her personal life was developing as well. In 1999 Union met NFL player Chris Howard, and the couple was married on May 5, 2001 — but by 2005, they had separated. In 2007, she met NBA player Dwyane Wade at a Super Bowl Party, but the two didn't date until a few years later; they went public with their relationship in 2010. "When I met Dwyane, his résumé looked like crap: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me," Union told Glamour in 2014. "None of that screamed, 'Let's have a lasting relationship.'" Regardless, she took a chance on him, and they announced their engagement in December 2013, finally tying the knot on August 30, 2014. This made Union the official stepmother to Wade's kids: Zaire and Zaya, who he shares with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches; Xavier, who he shares with reality TV actress Aja Metoyer; and Wade's nephew Dahveon Morris, who he gained full custody of in 2011.

On November 7, 2018, Union and Wade welcomed their first child together, daughter Kaavia, via surrogate. Gabrielle Union was honest about her heartbreaking struggles with infertility, IVF, and multiple miscarriages in her 2017 memoir, We're Going to Need More Wine. She wrote that she and Wade were "bursting with love and ready to do anything to meet the child we've both dreamed of." Union revealed that she was initially against surrogacy, but it ended up being the best decision they could have made — and in 2020, she released her first children's book, Welcome to the Party, inspired by Kaavia's unconventional (but much-welcomed!) entrance into the blended family. And in 2021, Wade released two more books: Shady Baby (which has a 2022 sequel, Shady Baby Feels: A First Book of Emotions), and her second memoir, You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories.

Union is not just an actress and author, but an entrepreneur as well. She's the founder of Flawless by Gabrielle Union, a range of texture-specific hair products, and cofounder (along with husband Dwyane Wade) of Proudly, a baby and kids' skin and haircare brand formulated especially for melanated babies.

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