Lang was born on May 4th, 1961 in Dayton, Ohio, but he grew up outside Atlanta, Georgia. He was first introduced to origami when he was six years old. Lang was very good at math and math class bored him, so his teacher gave him an origami book to keep him entertained. He quickly folded the models in the book, and then folded models in many other books. In his early teens, Lang began folding his own models, and he drew diagrams on how to make them.