A native of Baltimore, MD, he attended the University of Virginia, receiving a B.A. in Rhetoric in 1984. Upon graduation, he joined MTV's award-winning On-Air Promotions Department, where he developed a series of short conceptual spots, editing original footage with found sound and images. This groundbreaking training in post-production collage and unusual sound/image/text juxtaposition became a primary focus of Pellington's early work.