Sid Wilson was born in Des Moines, Iowa (though his family comes from England. He was born with extra digits on his hands,  but these were removed shortly after. When Shawn Crahan heard of this, he was angry that Wilson had his extra digits cut off. Crahan stated: "They cut off his goddamn fingers 'cause society doesn't like it. Think what a DJ he coulda been with these fingers! We've been deprived of that 'cause of those motherfuckers!" He performs in Slipknot, and also tours as DJ Starscream, a name which derived from the Transformers character of the same name. He is a fan of the Transformers franchise, and even evidences this with tattoos.

Wilson is notorious for his on-stage antics while performing with Slipknot. He has been known to initiate fights during shows with percussionist Shawn Crahan, to jump into the crowd and to set himself on fire. In his interview on the band's 2006 DVD, Voliminal: Inside the Nine, he stated that in the future he would cease these stunts for fear of being arrested and charged with attempted suicide for his human inferno act, and that, "When it comes to jumping off stages, there have been too many close calls." During the first show of the 2008 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in Auburn, WA he jumped from a piece of stage equipment and broke both of his heels. Wilson was determined to continue the tour with his bandmates and played the tour in a wheelchair. On the Mayhem Festival tour Corey Taylor would have the crowd yell to Wilson "You broke your fucking feet,Sid." Recently in October 2008 he has been seen with a cane onstage. On March 11, 2009, he was seen headbanging on Chris Fehn's drumset so hard that one of the kegs fell off.

Outside Slipknot, Wilson has made a following in Japan as a jungle musician, under the pseudonym DJ Starscream, and is currently signed to the Japanese record label N2O Records. He recently collaborated with The Mad Capsule Markets vocalist Hiroshi Kyono on a song called "HAKAI (Deathtroy)" released on The Songs for Death Note the movie～the Last name Tribute～, a tribute album dedicated to the live action movie for the second Death Note film. A remix of the track also appeared on the Wagdug Futuristic Unity mini-album Nu Riot and 2008 album Hakai.