Yuri Konstantinovich Stepanov was born on June 7, 1967 in Rysyevo Settlement of the Cheremkhovsky Region of the Irkutsk Region into the family of an agriculturist (subsequently a state farm director) and a teacher.
In 1988 he graduated with honours from Irkutsk Theatrical School, where he studied under V. Tovma. During his studies he mastered a number of professions: he had to work as a bricklayer, a carpenter, an oilrig worker and a tractor operator.

In 1992 Yuri Stepanov graduated from the Directors’ Faculty of GITIS, where he studied under the famous stage director Pyotr Fomenko.
From 1993 the actor worked in the Moscow Theater Pyotr Fomenko Studio.
Yuri Stepanov perished in a road accident when returning home after a performance on 3 March 2010. The actor was laid down to rest at the Troyekurovskoe Cemetery in Moscow next to the grave of Vladislav Galkin, who died, aged 38, just one week before the death of Yury Stepanov. 
Till the very last day of his life Yury Stepanov was one of the most demanded actors in Russia. He created dozens of vivid and memorable roles in cinema and on television. One of his most remarkable roles was that of the thief Antip Glymov in Nikolay Dostal's TV series Penal Battalion.

The actor’s widow is Irina Sorokin, a costumier by profession. When her husband died she had two sons and was expecting the third one. She gave birth to their third son on 30 March 2012 and named him Yury after her lost husband.