Born in Chile in 1966, the son of a businessman and a nurse, Tice grew up in Uganda and Zaire. He was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and spent a gap year working as a youth worker in inner-city Liverpool. He then studied history at Bristol University, where he also captained the Rugby team.

His progress towards full time Christian ministry began with a period as a Lay Assistant at Christ Church Clifton in Bristol. After working briefly for Hewlett Packard, he trained for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

He was ordained in the Church of England in 1994, and shortly afterwards joined the staff team at the nationally-known All Souls, Langham Place in 1994 as Associate Minister.His main role is to help the hundreds of enquirers about the Christian faith who come through the doors of the church each year. In an interview in 2000 he confirmed his desire to focus on evangelism.

He co-wrote Christianity Explored with Barry Cooper; this is a widely-used range of resources for people enquiring about the Christian faith. He also presents the associated videos.

In 2003 and 2009, Tice led the OICCU Mission at Oxford University. He is a non-executive director of Christians in Sport.

Rico Tice was married at All Souls, Langham Place, London on 20 December 2008.

He lists his hobbies as rugby, golf and films.