Patricia Arquette

Arquette was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1968 to Lewis Arquette, an actor and puppeteer, and Brenda Olivia "Mardi" (née Nowak), who was involved in the arts and worked as a therapist. Through her father, Patricia is distantly related to explorer Meriwether Lewis. Arquette's father had converted from Catholicism to Islam. Arquette's mother was Jewish, and her ancestors emigrated from Poland and Russia.

Her father's family's surname was originally "Arcouet", and his paternal line was of French-Canadian descent. Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette. Patricia's siblings also became actors: Rosanna, Richmond, Alexis, and David. When she was a child, her parents offered to get her braces for her teeth, but she refused, claiming she didn't want to look perfect and "it didn't feel like it would fit who I was inside."

For a time her family lived on a commune in rural Bentonville, Virginia. She has said they became poorer the longer they lived there and she believes that experience enlarged her empathy. Her father was an alcoholic; her mother was violently abusive. When Arquette was seven, the family relocated to Chicago. They later settled in Los Angeles, California. Arquette attended Catholic school, and has said that when she was a teenager, she had wanted to be a nun.

At the age of fourteen, Arquette ran away from home after learning her father was having an affair—she settled with her sister, Rosanna Arquette, in Los Angeles. She has described her father as a working actor for industrial films, commercials and voiceovers – he was best known for his role as J.D. Pickett in the TV series The Waltons. Before pursuing a career in acting, Arquette had wanted to be a midwife.

She put this career prospect aside briefly in an attempt to gain acting jobs and gained success in the industry.