Barriss Coffie was born the daughter of two average Zirialan parents, her mother worked as a doctor and her father as a teacher, both at the local town. She was a very smart girl, gaining excellent grades at school. She was quite happy with her normal life, through her life was torn apart when her parents died in a hover car accident when she was ten. She had nowhere left to go, but miraculously the President of the United Planets, Annalyse Kadavera, who was visiting the planet, saw her on the streets and adopted her, taking her to Sendac.