Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Dennis Graham, a drummer who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis; his uncle is musician Teenie Hodges. His father is African American (a native of Memphis, Tennessee) and his mother is a white Jewish Canadian. He attended high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting.

Since 2001, Graham has played Jimmy Brooks, the student who was injured in a school shooting at Degrassi Community School, making him the first main character with a physical disability on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He also appeared in the film Charlie Bartlett, co-starring Anton Yelchin and Robert Downey, Jr., which was released on February 22, 2008.

As a rapper, Graham has two self-published mixtapes, Room for Improvement and Comeback Season, under the stage name Drake. Room For Improvement was produced by DJ Smallz.He shot a video for his debut single "Replacement Girl" which features R&B singer Trey Songz. He also made a cameo appearance in Trey Songz's "Wonder Woman" video. Graham also has an independent record label called ATF. ATF consists of T-Slack, Olivier, Photo Will, Future the Prince, Boi-1da, Azuka, Yung Trane, Mayhem Morearty, JD Era, P-Reign, Richie Sosa, Nickelus F, Bishop Brigante, Young Tony, 40/40 and many more. They are a part of the imprint The Wise Guys and October's Very Own. The whole crew stems from Toronto and many of them have ventured off into their own realm of music but still have that affiliation. During the process of recording and writing for both mixtapes, Drake worked with a fair amount of artists to get publicity. Trey Songz was featured on both mixtapes, and Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke worked on Comeback Season. Drake has been in works with Lil Wayne in 2008 releasing songs such as "Ransom", "I Want This Forever", "Stunt Hard", "Stuntin", "I Can Take Your Girl"and "Brand New (Remix)". As well as being featured on a hot new single by Colin Munroe "Cannon Ball". He has recently signed with Interscope Records.

Drake announced he has a new mixtape coming out early 2009 entitled So Far Gone. It will feature writings from the past two to three years. A collection of thoughts from 40, Jay, Jazz, Mayhem, JD and many more. Along with the progression of "So Far Gone", Drake & friends will be featured on DJ Wristpects newest mixtape, "BTG V.3". He also is reportedly working on an album called "Thank Me Later" Drake also said that Lil Wayne will be the executive producer for the album. He recently said in a interview that he will be featured on a track on Lil" Wayne's Upcoming New Rock Album. Drake is currently touring with Lil' Wayne, hitting Montreal on Jan. 14th and Toronto on Jan. 15h. Then he will get ready to attend Grammy weekend