Rafael Silva was born on June 18th, 1994, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He moved to the United States at the age of 13, to Harrison, New Jersey. Silva did not grow up in the acting world. Following his grandfather' and many of his uncles' footsteps, he grew up wanting to become a veterinarian and working with farm animals. However, when Silva moved to the United States and experienced continuous culture shock, he became introverted and fearful of speaking in public. In order to overcome that fear, he signed up to do a play his junior year of high school and slowly grew passionate for the theater and film. Silva attended Pace University, in downtown Manhattan, NY, and graduated with a B.F.A. in Acting for Film, Television, Voice-Overs & Commercial.