Ragnar Tørnquist was born in 1970 in Norway. He studied art, history and English at St. Clare's, Oxford from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1990, he studied philosophy and English at the University of Oslo. After that, from 1990 to 1993 he attended the Undergraduate Film and Television department at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.