Justin Theroux - Early Life

Early Life

Theroux was born in Washington, D.C. His mother, Phyllis (née Grissim), is a journalist and author who worked for The Washington Post, and his father, Eugene Theroux, is a corporate lawyer. Theroux is the nephew of the travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux, novelist and poet Alexander Theroux, author Peter Theroux, and novelist and educator Joseph Theroux; he is the cousin of British journalists and documentary filmmakers Louis Theroux and Marcel Theroux. His father is of half French Canadian and half Italian descent. Through his mother, Theroux is a great-great-grandson of financier, banker and railroad magnate H. B. Hollins, and of music critic and author Gustav Kobbé.

Theroux attended The Field School, a prestigious preparatory school in Washington D.C. before being transferred to Buxton School where he began his acting training. He graduated from Bennington College in 1993 with a B.A. in visual arts and drama.