George Chiang was born in Ottawa, Ontario. His parents are both Taiwanese who met and married in Tokyo, Japan while they were university students there. His father Cheng San obtained his Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa and became a professional engineer. His career culminated in a long run as a Canadian diplomat at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria from the mid-80s till his retirement in 1996 where his worked focused on CCTV design and implementation for nuclear power plants. During that period his parents divorced. His mother Ching Mei worked in administrative at Eaton's for many years and remained in Toronto where she raised George and his younger brother James.
George received his theatre training at the University of Guelph. During his summers he would hit the comedy clubs in Toronto to perform his stand-up comedy routine. Upon graduation he focused on the theatre and began his acting career by performing in plays in Toronto and then went on to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada.
