Jonathan Majors

Majors was born in Santa Barbara County, California, and spent his early years living with his mother, who is a pastor, his older sister, and younger brother on the Vandenberg military base, as his father was in the US Air Force. In 2020, Majors said "Our father, who loved us dearly, just kind of disappeared one day ... and he resurfaced 17 years later." Majors has since reconnected with his father. The family moved around various cities in Texas, including Dallas, Georgetown, and Cedar Hill. He attended Cedar Hill High School and graduated from Duncanville High School in 2008.

Majors has described himself as having had a "difficult" childhood, growing up with drug dealers and murderers for neighbors who wore ankle monitors on their release from prison. As a teenager, Majors was arrested for shoplifting, suspended from high school for fighting, and lived in his car while working two jobs after being kicked out of his house. He eventually found solace and a "safe space" in the world of theatre, which he joined after watching Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. Majors credits Heath Ledger's Joker as the reason he became an actor, and why he seeks to be an inspiration to others.

Majors studied for his bachelor's degree at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and later attended the Yale School of Drama; he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 2016.