He was born in Calgary, Alberta, the eighth of 12 children, all of whom were involved with wrestling in some way; his youngest brother was the wrestler Owen Hart. His father was the wrestling promoter Stu Hart.
He rose to fame in the World Wrestling Federation in the early 1990s, winning the WWF Intercontinental title twice and the WWF World title five times. Following a rather controversial match with Shawn Michaels in November 1997, he left the WWF and joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
In 2000, he suffered a severe concussion in a match against Bill Goldberg, which turned out to be career ending.
In 2002, he suffered a stroke after falling off his bicycle. He has made a remarkable recovery from the stroke. He currently writes a column for the Calgary Sun newspaper and is working on his three volume autobiography.