Douglas Fraser was born in Sydney in 1958 and educated there until his final years at high school. His family moved to Queensland in the early 1970s and settled in Hervey Bay. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979, Fraser found employment in the television industry and later became a writer and director. He received a television Logie Award in 1983 and has since written and directed television specials for the ABC and the Seven Network.
After travelling through Europe in 1985, Fraser returned to write his first work for theatre, Flight of the Archaeopteryx, and became a media lecturer at the University College of Central Queensland. He has published various short stories and poetry.