 His Jewish father, Stanisław (later Stanley), was born in what is now Kyrgyzstan, to Russian and Polish parents; he grew up in Kraków before the family immigrated to Australia in 1946, settling in Collaroy.On his mother's side, Falinski has English and Irish heritage.Falinski graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics and from the Australian Graduate School of Management at UNSW Sydney with a MBA.