Alicia Valladolid Cuarón was born on March 1, 1939, in Oxnard, California. Her parents, Rosendo Alfaro and Guadalupe Valladolid (Perez) Cuarón, had immigrated to the United States from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920. Her father was one of the "Cristeros" (followers of Christ) who helped smuggle Catholic priests and nuns across the Mexican border into the United States in the 1920s. She has four sisters and a brother.