Carmen Electra was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she is the daughter of Patricia, a singer, and Harry, an entertainer and guitarist. She attended Ann Weigel Elementary School. She studied dance at Dance Artists dance studio under Gloria J. Simpson, in Western Hills, a suburb of Cincinnati. Her mother died of a brain tumor in 1998. Her older sister Debbie died from a heart attack, also in 1998. Carmen graduated from Princeton High School in Sharonville. She has Irish, German, and Cherokee ancestry.