Ariel Pacheco, born Ariel Rolando Pacheco was born in Elmhurst,Queens, New York City and raised in Elmhurst and Corona. He is the first of four children of Luis Rolando Pacheco and Adalgisa Pacheco, both of whom were born in the Dominican Republic and migrated to the United States the year he was born. Luis Pacheco was a college graduate in the Dominican Republic and became an engineer in the states. Adalgisa graduated from LaGuardia community college, and worked at the Wolrd Trade Center, then later at LaGuardia airport and JFK International airport. Ariel attended high school in Long Island City at the experimental LaGuardia Middle College High School. After graduating, he enrolled into the City College of New York where he trained in theater and performed in many shows including Dog Sees God and De Donde. He was cast in a variety of shows for a few years at City. In 2009 he was accepted into the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts in Chelsea, where he graduated with a 3.6 GPA. He was selected as one of twenty students to perform in front of a "Super Jury" panel of casting director's and agents in his final year. He graduated the conservatory in 2011 and booked his first lead role shortly after in the film An Inappropriate Affect (2015).