Edward Irvine Halliday was born on 7 October 1902 at Garston, Liverpool to parents James Halliday and Violet Irvine. He first attended Liverpool College of Art. Halliday continued his studies and attended life drawing classes at Académie Colarossi (1922–1923), the Royal College of Art (1923–1925), and the British School at Rome (1925–1928). He was awarded the Prix de Rome for Decorative Painting in 1925. He established himself as a portrait artist with his work, Lord Darling (1928).

During World War II, Halliday served in the Royal Air Force in Bomber Command. After the war in 1948, he received a painting commission for a portrait of Princess Elizabeth from the Drapers' Company of London. This was the start of many more royal portrait commissions. Other sitters for Halliday's portraits included Winston Churchill, Edmund Hillary, Lord Denning, Lord Widgery, Louis Gluckstein, Robert Stopford, Lord Hunt, Frank Whittle, Malcolm Sargent, Leon Goossens, Beryl Grey, Gladys Cooper, Wally Hammond, Brian Johnston, and Ben Travers.

Halliday had two arts series radio programs, Artists at Work (1932) and Design in Modern Life (1934). After the success of these radio programs, it led to further radio and television work. In the 1950s, Halliday was the voice behind the BBC Television Newsreel.