Walker was born in Glendale, California. His parents were Cheryl (née Crabtree), a fashion model, and Paul William Walker III, a sewer contractor and a fighter who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion, He had English ancestry, with a smaller amount of German, and possible Irish ancestry. His paternal grandfather, a professional boxer, had English immigrant grandparents. One of his grandfathers raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s. He was the oldest of five siblings. Walker was raised primarily in the Sunland community of Los Angeles and attended high school in the San Fernando Valley, graduating from Sun Valley's Village Christian School in 1991. He was raised as a member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After high school, Walker attended several community colleges in Southern California, majoring in marine biology.