Born in Lahore, Pakistan on July 21, 1973, Adrees Latif lived in Saudi Arabia before immigrating with his family to Texas in 1980. Latif worked as a staff photographer for The Houston Post from 1993 to 1996 before joining Reuters.

Latif graduated from the University of Houston in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He has worked for Reuters in Houston, Los Angeles before moving to Bangkok in 2003 where he covers news across Asia.