He is of Italian (father) and French-Canadian and English (mother) descent, and is the grandson of baseball player Tony Lupien. When he was in college, he played football. He then continued on to be a bodybuilder and a limousine driver.

John Felix Anthony Cena was born in West Newbury, MA. He played high school football, has a degree in exercise physiology & body movement. Prior to wrestling, John Cena had a career in bodybuilding and also worked as a limousine driver. Cena began wrestling in 1999 and in October 2000 entered WWF. In 2001, he trained with Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Cena was educated at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to the private prep boarding school Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He then attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was an NCAA Division III All-American center and football team captain.

John Felix Anthony Cena, Jr., was born on April 23, 1977, in West Newbury, Massachusetts. From the time he was a preteen, he had been lifting weights. As he grew older, he thought that he would pursue a career in bodybuilding. In 1998 he received a degree in exercise physiology from Springfield College in Massachusetts.