Stewart Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife. After studying mathematics at Aberdeen University he worked in Information Technology with Bank of Scotland for 30 years.

He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in June 2001 following Alex Salmond's resignation as member for Banff and Buchan. He originally joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1962.

He is Deputy Shadow Health and Social Justice Minister.