James Douglas Muir Leno was born on April 28, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York to Angelo Leno, an insurance salesman, and Catherine (nee Muir), who was a Scottish immigrant. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, which at the time was a blue-collar town outside of Boston. After graduating from Andover High School in 1968, Leno went to the University of Massachusetts for three semesters before dropping out prior to the spring semester of 1970 after becoming frustrated with his poor grades and dyslexia. While at U-Mass, Leno was a brother in the Nu Kappa Epsilon fraternity and was active in a comedy troupe on campus.