Thomas William “Tom” Selleck was born on January 29, 1945 in Detroit, Michigan, son of Martha Selleck and Robert Dean Selleck. His mother was a stay-at-home mom and his father worked as an executive and real estate investor. Shortly after Tom was born, they moved to California. The family also consists of an older brother named Robert, a younger sister named Martha and a younger brother named Daniel.

Thomas, being the second child graduated from Grant High School in 1962 and entered the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship and then studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. As a college student, he used to play for the USC Trojan’s basketball team and till this day he is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and the Trojan Knights, USC’s service and spirit organization. If anything, that shows Tom’s gentle side. During this time and for some time afterwards, he supported himself and his family financially by working as a model and making a couple of appearances in ‘The Dating Game’.

“Τhat wasn’t an acting performance: I really was just a scared student at USC. But all of my friends, my fraternity brothers, were going on, so I went on and did it. And I, uh, did not dominate. [Laughs.] I was rather frightened! You know, I remember the chairs all used to come around and then the lights would come on, and they said, ‘Well, be sure to smile when we introduce you,” said Tom in an interview when he was asked about his first appearance on the said show.