Mitchell attended Bull Creek Primary School, where he played Australian rules football, and he also attended dance classes during his early adolescence. It was while he was engaged in theatre classes at Leeming Senior High School that he met Jebediah's lead guitarist Chris Daymond. Following Mitchell's successful completion of the Tertiary Entrance Examination (TEE), he commenced an undergraduate degree at a Western Australian university. After the first year he decided to forgo his course, and as a member of Jebediah, he signed a record deal in 1996.