Fulvio Cecere moved to Hawthorne, New Jersey from Canada in 1973, the son of Maria Spagnuolo Cecere and the late Giuseppe Cecere, a barber. He has a brother, Enzio. Cecere graduated from Hawthorne High School (Hawthorne , New Jersey; 1978) and Montclair State University (Montclair, New Jersey; 1982). He briefly attended law school but said of the experience, "There were only a couple of classes - criminal law and torts that I found remotely interesting", then branched into acting.