Khoo Swee Chiow was born in Port Dickson, Malaysia in 1964 to Khoo Kai Guan and Tan Eng Fong. He grew up in a home in Jalan Baru, now known as Jalan Khoo Kek Kwee. Khoo is married to Khoo Wee Leng.

On 5 Dec 2004, he successfully swam the Straits of Malacca from Tanjung Rupat in Indonesia to Port Dickson. He began at 1.41 PM and arrived at 11.37 AM. He was inspired to perform this feat at the age of 6 after meeting a Japanese man who was the first man to ever swim across the straits.

Khoo climbed Mt Everest in 1998 as part of Singapore's first expedition to conquer Mount Everest. Despite his being a Singapore Permanent Resident at the time the country claimed it as a great victory. In 1999, he also skied to the South Pole, covering a distance of 1,125km in 57 days.

In 2000, he completed the Seven Summits and became the 1st South East Asian to achieve this feat. In 2002 he skied to the North Pole, after failing the previous year, becoming the 1st South East Asian and the 4th person in the world to complete The Adventure Grand Slam, that is, the South Pole, the North Pole and the Seven Summits.

He aims to climb Mount Everest without the aid of oxygen. This is after one attempt where he did not achieve the summit but managed to reach 8,400 metres of the mountain to a point known as the Balcony.

He has written a book called "Journeys to the Ends of the Earth".