Balaban was born to a Jewish family [2] on August 16, 1945, in Chicago, the son of Eleanor (née Pottasch) and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television. [3] [4] His mother acted under the name Eleanor Barry. [5]His paternal grandparents emigrated from Moldova and Ukraine to Chicago, while his mother's family was from Germany, Russia, and Romania.