Cormac McAnallen was born on 11 February 1980 in Dungannon. He lived in the Brantry, with his parents Brendan and Bridget, and his brothers Donal and Fergus. Between 1984 and 1990 Cormac attended Derrylatinee Primary School; from 1990 to 1997 he attended St Patrick's Grammar School in Armagh. At St. Patrick's he was part of the team that won the Blackboard Jungle quiz on RTÉ (1996/97). He was a student at Queens University Belfast between 1997 and 2001, and in 2001/02 he studied at University College Dublin (UCD), while doing teaching practice at St Benildus College, Stillorgan. He graduated from Queens in 2000 with a B.A. in History, and in 2001 with a postgraduate diploma in Computer-Based Learning. He graduated from UCD in 2002 with a higher diploma in Education. He was posthumously named Queen's University Graduate of the Year in 2004.