Matthew Amroliwala was born 3 October 1962 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. His father served in the Royal Air Force and the family has Indian Parsi heritage originating from Gujarat, India. He grew up in England and later studied law and politics at Durham University.

He joined the BBC in 1989, becoming a network television correspondent. Early in his career he reported extensively from Northern Ireland and covered the Bosnian conflict, including the fall of Srebrenica.

Since 2014 he has hosted Global with Matthew Amroliwala on BBC World News, the broadcaster’s flagship international news programme. He also appears as a relief presenter on BBC News at One on BBC One and became a chief presenter on the BBC’s merged news channel in 2023. Amroliwala is married to journalist Jackie Long, and they have five children.