Pam was born in 1973 in what was then South Vietnam. His father was an engineer for the South Vietnamese Army. On April 19, 1975, Pham and his family immigrated to the United States days before the fall of Saigon, with his father being left behind during their evacuation. They were aided by a family friend, an ambassador named John "Jerry" Edwards, who wrote a letter that said that Pham's father was his brother-in-law and a captain, although this was false. They settled at Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center, reuniting with their father three months later and moved to Henrico County, Virginia with the help of Commonwealth Catholic Charities. He and his family lived off an apartment off Parham Road, where they struggled to learn English. Both his parents worked minimum wage jobs and stressed to Pham and his siblings to study and work hard. In 1985, after 10 years in America, he became a United States citizen and graduated from Meadowbrook High School in 1991. Pham graduated from William &amp; Mary Law School in 1995 and the University of University of Richmond School of Law in 1999. He then served as a law clerk in the Circuit Court of Henrico County before becoming a prosecutor in the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.