Born in Lunca Câlnicului, Brașov County, his parents were the clerk Simion Moldovan and his wife Valeria ("née" Nicolescu). From 1930 to 1934, he attended primary school in Turcheș, followed by Ioan Meșotă High School in Brașov, graduating in 1943. In 1950, early in the communist period, he completed studies at the Iași Dramatic Conservatory. He was then arrested in connection with alleged membership in "Sumanele Negre", part of the Romanian anti-communist resistance movement, spending a year and a half in prison.