Henry Istvan was born in 1894 to George Istvan (Anglo-Lovian ringmaster at Circus Maximus) and Elizabeth Knight, an English woman. His parents got him interested in the circus, and he planned to be the next ringmaster. Though Sir George Coningham bought the circus in 1897, his father was still the ringmaster. In 1913, he fell in love with Zarina Peric, an Oceana trapezist working in his father's circus. They had 1 son, Jonas.