Sef Gonzales was born in 1980 in Baguio, Benguet, Philippines, to Teddy Gonzales, a lawyer, and his wife Loiva, who had married in 1977. In 1983, Sef's sister Clodine was born. After the 1990 Luzon earthquake destroyed the family's home and business, a newly built 40-room hotel (from which Gonzales was rescued from the rubble by his father), the family emigrated to Australia. The family settled in Sydney, New South Wales, and by the late 1990s, Teddy had requalified as a lawyer, set up a successful law firm specializing in immigration, and purchased a plot of land in North Ryde.