Edward Andrew Opie was the second son of the Cornish portrait painter, Richard OPIE, and his wife Agnes Andrew, who lived at Stithians and in Falmouth, and moved to Plymouth in the late 1820s. In 1838 Edward Andrew Opie left for Australia, arriving at Port Adelaide in March 1839 on the d'Auvergne. He earned his living as an actor and scene painter, advertising that he could paint portraits, clean and repair oil paintings, and teach drawing. In the early 1840s he moved between towns and theatres. In the mid-1840s he and Mary Jane Devonshire had a son together, Edward Andrew Devonshire Opie.

From 1845 Edward Andrew Opie lived in Melbourne for three years, where he worked as a painter of portraits and views of the town. In the late 1840s he returned to acting and scene painting at the theatre in Adelaide. During the Victorian gold rush, he was in Geelong before returning to Melbourne. Little is known of the last two decades of his life. He died in Melbourne.