Brian was born in Dublin and grew up in Clontarf, Dublin. He attended Belgrove National School in Clontarf often playing football, soccer, tennis and golf, in nearby St. Anne’s Park. He played his first rugby match at 11 years of age for Willow Park where he finished his primary education before moving on to Blackrock College where he developed a passionate interest in the game of rugby. He gained international recognition for the first time in 1996 gaining 3 caps for Irish schools. He attended UCD on a sports scholarship progressing from the college under 20’s team to the senior team in his first year.

He was a member of the Irish team that won the IRB under 19 World Cup in France in 1998 with current internationals Paddy Wallace and Donnacha O’Callaghan as team mates. Brian graduated from UCD with a diploma in Sports Management. He got 3 under 21 Irish caps in 1999. Selected for the senior Irish squad in April 1999 against Italy, he remained on the bench. He was then selected for the summer tour to Australia and made his debut winning his first cap at the age of 20 on 12th June 1999 in Brisbane, Ireland losing 46-10. He played in the Rugby World Cup that year.

In 2001 Brian was selected for the British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia, appearing in all 3 tests. In 2003, following the international retirement of Ireland captain Keith Wood, Brian was awarded the Irish captaincy. O’Driscoll then led Ireland to a second-place finish in the Six Nations, and in the process, a Triple Crown.

 In 2005, O’ Driscoll became Ireland’s first Lions captain since Ciaran Fitzgerald in 1983 and was selected to lead the Lions on the tour to New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was a short lived tour with his shoulder being dislocated during the opening minutes of the first Test against the All Blacks in Christchurch on 25 June 2005. He remained as non-playing captain on a losing tour and underwent surgery upon his return to Dublin. He returned to full fitness to lead Ireland to two more Triple Crown triumphs in 2006 and 2007, and was named as the RBS Player of the Six Nations in both years. In September 2005 Brian signed with the IRFU to stay at Leinster through the 2007 World Cup.

An ever proud Irish man, he signed a new contract with the IRFU that will keep him playing at Leinster until 2013. In January 2006, Brian helped Leinster beat Bath to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2005-6 Heineken Cup. On the 1st of April 2006, Leinster beat Toulouse reaching the Heineken Cup semi-final.

 In 2007 Ireland enjoyed a great 6 nations eventually losing out to France on the Championship by a single score. He exceeded Keith Wood’s captaincy record of 36 Tests when Ireland defeated Italy in their last game of the 2007 Six Nations. Brian lead the Irish Team in the R.W.C 2007 and the Irish Team in the 2008 Six Nations Rugby Tournament. He was the captain of the Leinster Team who were overall winners of the 2007/2008 Celtic League.

In 2009, under the reign of new Ireland Coach Declan Kidney, O’Driscoll was selected as captain, leading Ireland to win the Triple Crown, the Six Nations Championship and their first Grand Slam in 61 years. He scored a try in every match except one, culminating in a nail-biting final match, a 17-15 victory in Cardiff in which he again scored a try and was the RBS man of the match. On 27th March, he was named as player of the 2009 Six Nations Championship.

2009 also saw an exhilarating Heineken Cup series of fixtures which resulted in the victory for Leinster under the captaincy of Leo Cullen. Brian played a team role that brought European glory to the boys in blue - against a team who had previously defeated them in the knockout stages, Leicester Tigers on May 23 2009 with a final result of 19-16. He was also named as player of the 2009 Six Nations Championship and the Bord Gáis Energy IRUPA Players’ Player of the Year for the season.

During the Autumn International series, O’Driscoll scored a last minute try against Australia to help Ireland get a 20-20 draw in Croke Park & led the Irish Team to beat the current Lions champions South Africa. O’Driscoll has 119 test caps, 113 for Ireland (77 as captain), and six for the British and Irish Lions. During this time he has scored 44 tries for Ireland and 1 try for the Lions in 2001, making him the highest try scorer of all time in Irish Rugby and the 8^th highest try scorer in history. He is the highest scoring centre of all time. He broke Ian Smith’s 78 year old Championship record when he touched down for his 25^th Six Nations try against England in March 2011. He has scored the most Heineken Cup tries (29) for an Irishman.

In January 2010, he was voted World Rugby player of the decade (2000-2009) by the influential magazine Rugby World. In the 2010-11 season, Brian along with his Leinster colleagues won their Second Heineken Cup Championship.

Brian & the Ireland Team thoroughly enjoyed the 2011 RWC Tour and having been defeated by Wales in the Quarter Finals.

Having undergone a recent operation, Brian is training hard and  focusing on his return to Rugby.