Tarek Ghader was born in Montreal, Canada. His mother, Silvana (Barone), is of Italian descent, and worked as a linguistics teacher. His father, Sam Ghader, who was of Lebanese and Spanish decent , was a hair dresser. Immediately after Ghader graduated with a Bachelor's in Political Science and minor in religion he starred in two features shooting simultaneously, Bikini Girls On Ice and Looking For Anne., He then moved to New York York City to study at The Lee Strasberg Institute; he never graduated as he could only afford a few semesters and with no visa to work in the United States he settled in Toronto. It was in Toronto he created the web series on You Tube Preshift about an actor working in a restaurant trying to make it as an actor and In which he produced, directed and starred in 17 episodes. He Directed 'Preshift', 'Hollywood' the music video, 'Goldfish' a short film and 'The Starving Artist' a pilot for a food show. He now resided in Los Angeles and is an investor in a California based food line.