His biography as a professional cricketer starts at the age of seventeen. Michael Clarke made his first class debut for New South Wales in the 1999–2000 Sheffield Shield. Clarke was chosen to make his Test debut against India at Bangalore, in October 2004, he succeeded on debut, scoring 151 and consequently helping Australia to victory. Clarke then helped Australia retain the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies where they did not lose a game. Clarke was named as captain of Australia's Twenty20 side in October 2009, taking over from Ricky Ponting

On 1 May 2012 Clarke made his debut in the Indian Premier League for Pune Warriors India. Clarke's highest Test batting score of 329* was made on 5 January 2012 against India. This is the highest Test match batting score at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and the fourth best Test match batting score of all time by an Australian. In 2013 Clarke was named captain of the Sydney Thunder in Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash League.

Clarke captained the Australian team for 2015 Cricket World Cup, where Australia co-hosts the tournament with New Zealand.Australia defeated New Zealand in final and won the World Cup under the captaincy of Michael Clarke. Clarke announced that he would retire from One Day Cricket after that tournament. Clarke played 244 ODIs, made 7907 runs at an average of 44.42 with 8 centuries and 58 half-centuries. He led his country in 73 matches, of which Australia won 49.

In November 2016, he became a full-time commentator for Nine's Wide World of Sports cricket coverage. He commentates on Test Matches, ODI Matches and T20 Matches with his fellow counterparts. Currently his net worth sum is about $16 million.

Michael Clarke was diagnosed with chronic back pain at the age of 17. He has successfully managed his back pain since that time. Clarke had been struggling with injuries in 2014, and it was evident with the loss against Zimbabwe in the triangular series, after which he returned home for treatment having aggravated his hamstring injury. Later in the year, during the first Test in Adelaide Oval, on the first Test since the death of Phillip Hughes, Clarke initially retired hurt at 60 after re-injuring his back, an issue he has had since his teenage years, then returned to score 128 on the first innings, but he went off the field again after tearing his right hamstring while fielding on the fifth day.

As for his family, after canceled engagement with Lara Bingle, Clarke married business owner and model Kyly Boldy on 15 May 2012. On 8 July 2015, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child. On 17 November, it was reported that his wife Kyly Clarke had given birth to a baby girl. They named their daughter Kelsey Lee.