 Oscar was born to Roque Fernandes, the head of Government Composite PU College and the first President of Manipal Institute of Technology and Leonissa M. Fernandes, the first female magistrate in India, at the family estate at Udupi.Fernandes was one of 12 children in his family, and grew up with a strong Catholic background.As a child he was an altar boy, and as a youth he was active in Church activities.