Aaron Barschak was born in 1966 and comes from a Jewish family. His father, Fred Barschak, fled Vienna in 1938, the rest of his father's family died during the Nazi Holocaust. Aaron grew up in Hampstead in North London and attended City of London School where he learnt French and Spanish. After leaving school, Barschak travelled to Bolivia working at importing Western pop records and later moved to New York to study acting.