George Jean Nathan was born in 1882 in Fort Wayne, Indiana to midwestern parents of European Jewish ancestry. Six years later the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a successful wholesaler in wines and spirits and provided the young Nathan with a good education that included tutors at home in addition to his local schooling. Two of Nathan»s uncles played significant roles in contributing to his early interest in the theater. One was a theatrical promoter, the other a critic for the New York Herald and other publications. By the time he left Cleveland, Nathan had already witnessed performances by some of the most celebrated players of the era. He went on to attend university at Cornell, where he enjoyed the life of a clubman and excelled at fencing. After Cornell, Nathan studied in Italy before eventually settling in New York, where he was hired as a reporter at the Herald. Ill-suited to a reporter»s beat, Nathan chose instead to focus his writing on the entertainment world.