De Luca was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was a German Jewish immigrant, and his father, who was Italian American and Catholic, worked at ConEdison. De Luca began pursuing a career in showbuisness in 1986. Originally tapped to work as a story Editor, he rose fairly quickly through the ranks, thanks in part to his mentor, chair and co-founder Robert Shaye. De Luca did complete his degree from Tisch School of the Arts of New York University in 1995.
In 1990, De Luca made his debut in the film industry as an associate Producer on Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. De Luca has been collecting comics since childhood and is a huge fan of comic books and graphic novels, in particular the works of Frank Miller, and sci-fi properties such as Star Trek. In 1996, De Luca, a self-proclaimed "trekkie", was approached by the producers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore for Star Trek: Voyager and pitched an idea which turned into an opportunity to write an episode for the series.
De Luca co-wrote the story for the 1995 film adaptation of the popular British comic book character Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone as the eponymous lead
After New Line Cinema, De Luca became President of Production at DreamWorks, his tenure lasting between 2001 and 2004.
After his contract with DreamWorks ended, De Luca signed a production deal with Sony Pictures and started his own production company, Michael De Luca Productions. His first release under his production company was Ghost Rider (2007) starring Nicolas Cage, followed by 21 and The Love Guru (both 2008) starring Mike Myers.
In 2009, he married Actress Angelique Madrid (born 1974) from Ft. Worth, Texas, who was a contestant on the first season of ABC's The Bachelor. They have a daughter, Skylar (born 2008), and a son, Caden (born 2012).
He was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar two years in a row for 2010's The Social Network (2010) and Moneyball (2011). He received a third nomination in 2014 for producing Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips.
De Luca also produced the 2011 remake of the cult classic vampire horror film Fright Night. De Luca and Dana Brunetti reunited for Fifty Shades of Grey, the 2015 film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name. It was a massive financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing R-rated films of all time.
