Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio, television and film. He is the founder of Wordplay, also known as , one of the premier screenwriting sites on the Internet. Along with his writing partner Ted Elliott, Rossio has written some of the most successful American films of the past 30 years, including Aladdin, and Shrek. He is the second most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of domestic box office receipts with totals at around $2.5 billion. In March 2017, Legendary Entertainment announced that Rossio would lead their writers room to help develop the story for Godzilla vs Kong. A press release revealed Rossio as the sole screenwriter for Godzilla vs. Kong. As quoted in the India Times, Deadline Hollywood and other sources, "Pirates of the Caribbean writer Terry Rossio has been sued by his former agent for pending commission payment of over two years. Dodie Herskovitz, of Dodie Gold Management, filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court and claimed the screenwriter has not paid her 'certain revenues' she is owed under their contract, said The Hollywood Reporter. Herskovitz said she became Rossio's manager in February 2002, and their contract entitled her to 10 per cent of gross revenues and other amounts earned from entertainment industry work negotiated by her firm. Rossio, however, ended their contract in March 2013. The former manager claims she managed the writer while he signed to write installments of Pirates of the Caribbean saga, apart from The Lone Ranger, Déjà Vu and upcoming projects Lightspeed and Instant Karma.” Rossio is also associated with the anti-vaccination movement, writing in a tweet from November 23, 2018, "My heart goes out to all the parents of vaccine damaged children, who have to not only endure the sadness of their loss, but also the vitriol of ill-informed and insensitive people. Anti-Vax is equivalent to calling someone a nigger and makes as little sense". Subsequently, Rossio received a strong backlash from Twitter users for his use of a racist slur, and for comparing defenders of the anti-vaccination movement with victims of racism.
