Takao Prefecture
Henry Lau was born on October 11, 1989, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His father is from Hong Kong with Teochew ancestry and his mother is from Pingtung, Taiwan (formerly part of Takao Prefecture). He was raised in the middle-class neighbourhood of Willowdale located in the district of North York. He attended Kenollie Public School in Port Credit, Mississauga, Steelesview Public School, Zion Heights Junior High School, then North Toronto Collegiate Institute in grade 9 and attended A.Y. Jackson Secondary School in Toronto for the rest of his high school years before being chosen at the 2006 SM Entertainment Global Audition in Toronto. Only two out of three thousand applicants were recruited through the auditions, one of which was Henry. On "I Live Alone", Henry revealed that his younger sister, Whitney Lau, was born in 1993 and was a former Miss Toronto Chinese Pageant winner in 2013. His brother, Clinton, is also a classically-trained musician and co-founded Henry's current agency, Monster Entertainment Group.