Reali grew up in Marlboro Township, New Jersey and graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in both Communications and History from Fordham University. Reali is very public about his faith in God. He is known for wearing ashes on his forehead on-air on ESPN every Ash Wednesday.

Reali joined ESPN in 2000 as a researcher and writer for ESPN's quiz show 2 Minute Drill. He later joined a more known program called Pardon the Interruption in October 2001 as "Stat Boy", where his role was to correct and fact-check the main hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon at the end of every episode. Reali became so popular that he started appearing daily on Tony Kornheiser's radio show for a daily segment called "Preview the Interruption", in which he discussed what was going to happen on PTI later on that afternoon. After Reali became the host of Around the Horn, his popularity continued to rise.

He also earned some respect as Kornheiser and Wilbon eventually started introducing him by his actual name instead of simply calling him "Stat Boy." On occasion, Kornheiser will add several ridiculous middle names when introducing him to poke fun at his long full name such as Anthony Joseph Lisa Lipps Reali. In addition to conducting his usual fact-checks, Reali also judged Kornheiser and Wilbon when they played the games "Oddsmakers" and "Report Card" on the show and introduced the topics for segments such as "Over/Under" and "What's the Word." On September 5, 2014, Reali did his last show of Pardon the Interruption. His next step in life was moving to New York City to become a social media correspondent on Good Morning America, a job he only held for a couple months.

In February 2004, Reali replaced Max Kellerman as the host of Around the Horn, the show that precedes PTI in the ESPN weekday schedule. Reali was already a familiar face on the show because he was a guest host on Around the Horn six times and was also a panelist six other times before becoming the official host. As host of Around The Horn, Reali awarded points at his own discretion based upon the quality of the panelists' comments. Reali is known for his in depth knowledge of sports statistics and fact corrections of panelists on Around the Horn. He deducted points or muted the guest when a nonsensical comment was provided and awarded points when a panelist made a convincing argument, bold prediction, or amusing pop culture reference.