E' il figlio di Eric Atkinson, contadino e direttore d'azienda, e di Ella May Bainbridge.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/01/06/UPI-Almanac-for-Sunday-Jan-6-2019/8591546568650/ |title= UPI Almanac for Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019|agency=[[United Press International]]|date=6 January 2019|accessdate=10 September 2019|archivedate=11 September 2019 |archiveurl= https://archive.today/20190911222236/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/01/06/UPI-Almanac-for-Sunday-Jan-6-2019/8591546568650/|url-status=live|quote= actor Rowan Atkinson in 1955 (age 64)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/rowan-atkinson/bio/173131 |title=Rowan Atkinson: Biography |work=[[TV Guide]] |access-date=9 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="FamilyDetective">{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/education/2007/08/25/fafamdet125.xml|title=Family Detective — Rowan Atkinson|first=Nick|last=Barratt|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=UK|date=25 August 2007|archivedate=25 December 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225133236/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/familyhistory/3354493/Family-detective.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="FamilyDetective" /><ref>
[http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s374382.htm Foreign Correspondent — 22 July 1997: Interview with Rodney Atkinson] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090807061308/http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s374382.htm |date=7 August 2009 }} , [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/5221824.stm Profile: UK Independence Party], [[BBC News]], 28 July 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.</ref>
Ultimo di quattro fratelli (Paul, morto quando era ancora bambino, Rodney, economista e politico, e Rupert), Atkinson entrò a 11 anni alla [[Durham Chorister School]], nello stesso periodo in cui era presente anche [[Tony Blair]].<ref>{{Cita news |lingua=en |autore=Kate Watson-Smyth |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/in-the-news-rowan-atkinson-the-recluse-who-engineered-his-way-to-stardom-1149340.html |titolo=In the News: Rowan Atkinson - The recluse who engineered his way to stardom |pubblicazione=[[The Independent]] |data=10 marzo 1998 |accesso=5 maggio 2020}}</ref> Dopodiché ha frequentato l'[[Università di Newcastle]] e il [[The Queen's College]] dell'[[Università di Oxford]], dove si è laureato in [[ingegneria elettrica]], oltre ad aver collaborato con [[Robert Musin]]. Durante le scuole elementari, fu compagno di classe di [[Tony Blair]].
Dopo la laurea avviene l'incontro con [[Richard Curtis]], con cui è entrato nel mondo della [[comicità]]. Ha debuttato nel programma ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' ([[1979]]-[[1982]]) sulla [[BBC2]].
