Stan Cross was born in Los Angeles in 1888, the son of English parents who settled in Perth in 1892. He was employed by the Railway Department at the age of sixteen and studied art at the Perth Technical College.

Cross left his job to study for a year in London, where his first cartoons were published by Punch magazine. After returning to Australia, he became a freelance artist, contributing cartoons and illustrations to The Western Mail and The Sunday Times. In 1919 he was hired by the new Smith's Weekly where he worked for twenty years, mainly on single-panel cartoons.

Cross is famous for his iconic Wally and the Major and The Potts cartoon strips.