Farrell Cleary was born in Kaikoura in 1948 to James and Hilary Cleary (nee Lovett); his siblings are Brigid, Joanna, mark and Gabrielle. Farrell has lived in Hamua, Fairlie, Oamaru, Auckland, Melbourne, Paris, London, Barcelona, Turin, Kumamoto, Aix-en-Provence and Tsu. He met Yuko Takahashi in 1982; they married in 1984 and live in Mt Eden.