James Frey was born on April 12, 1969, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Bob and Lynne Frey. His father worked as an attorney, and Frey was raised in an upper-middle-class family. When Frey was twelve, the family moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, where his father took a job with Whirlpool. After completing high school there, Frey entered Denison University in 1988 and studied film production. Four years later, he briefly lived in Paris, France, with two friends from Denison while he worked for his father's company. In 1992, when he was twenty-three years old, he spent several weeks at the Hazelden Clinic for treatment for addictions. After his treatment was completed, Frey moved to Chicago and worked in retail and as a bouncer at several bars.

In the mid-1990s, Frey moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry, working as both a producer and screenwriter. He...