McCourt came to the United States to seek his fortune. After graduating from New York University's school of education and supporting himself with several odd jobs, he found a brilliant career as a New York City high school teacher, last 17 of which were spent at the prestigious Stuyvesant High school.

In September 1996, after he retired from teaching, McCourt's memoir about his childhood, Angela's Ashes, was published by Scribner. It quickly rose to the top of the hardcover bestseller lists, remaining on the New York list for 117 weeks. It was also selected as the #1 non fiction book of the year by Time and Newsweek magazines.

Angela's ashes won many awards, including the Pulitzer prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Abby Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and was chosen by many newspapers to be on their lists of the best books of 1996. With the release of the film version of McCourt's touching story, directed by Alan Parker and released by Paramount Pictures, the paperback version also achieved bestseller status.

In September 1999, McCourt published the followup to Angela's Ashes, titled 'Tis: A Memoir,' which was also a # 1 bestseller in hardcover and recently has been #1 in softcover. For a time 'Tis was #1 in hardcover and Angela's Ashes #1 in softcover, simultaneously.

McCourt's acclaimed musical review, The Irish and How They Got That Way, ran for a year at the Irish repertory Theatre in New York and is currently playing in cities across the U.S. and abroad. Frank McCourt frequently lectures, is the recipient of numberous honorary degrees, and is working on his third book, a novel.

He and his wife, Ellen, live in Connecticut.