Virts was born in Baltimore, Maryland and is married to Stacy Hill. The couple has two children. Virts attended the Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Maryland and graduated in 1985. Due to an exchange program from the United States Air Force Academy he attended the Ecole d l'Air, the French Air Force Academy and graduated in 1989, with the rank of a second lieutenant. He has started his pilot career at the Williams Air Force Base in Arizona in 1990 and joined several flight teams until his selection as a member of the 18th group of NASA astronaut candidates in July 2000.