Early Life
Ratner was born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of Marcia (née Presman), a socialite, and Ronald Ratner. He grew up in a "middle-class Jewish family". His father was the son of a wealthy Miami businessman. His mother was born in Cuba, and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s with her parents, Fanita and Mario Presman (their families had originally moved to Cuba from Eastern Europe). Ratner's mother was sixteen when he was born. Ratner told Aventura Business Monthly in a May, 2011, cover story interview that he "really didn't know" his biological father, and that he considers Alvin Malnik, who opened the famous Forge restaurant in Miami Beach, to be his dad, "the one who raised" him. Ratner's biological father was chronically homeless in Miami Beach, a situation which inspired the adult Brett to become the director and board member of the nationwide nonprofit organization Chrysalis, which helps the homeless find work.
Ratner attended high school in Israel and graduated in 1986 from Miami Beach Senior High School. He is a 1990 graduate of New York University. In 2010, he cited the 1980 boxing film Raging Bull as his inspiration to enter the world of film.
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