Robert Michael Cannavale was born and raised in Union City, New Jersey, the son of Isabel and Salvatore “Sal” Cannavale. His father is of Italian descent, while his mother is Cuban and moved to the U.S. in 1960. He was raised Catholic and attended St. Michael’s Catholic School, where he participated in a number of extracurricular activities, including being an altar boy and member of the chorus.

When he was eight, Cannavale secured the plum role of the lisping boy, Winthrop, in his school’s production of The Music Man and later played a gangster in Guys and Dolls, which cemented his love for performing. Cannavale’s parents divorced when he was 13 and his mother moved the family to Puerto Rico.