Bollywood classical actor Dev was born as Dharam Dev Anand on 26 September 1923 in the Shakargarh tehsil of the Gurdaspur district in Punjab. Dev was the third of four sons born to Anand. One of Dev's younger sisters is Sheel Kanta Kapur, who is the mother of film director Shekhar Kapur. He did his schooling till matriculation from Sacred Heart School, Dalhousie, and went to college in Dharamsala before going to Lahore to study. Later Dev completed a BA degree in English Literature from the Government College, Lahore in British India.

Part of the Anand family, he co-founded Navketan Films in 1949 with his elder brother Chetan Anand. Dev Anand had an intense emotional love affair with actress Suraiya from 1948-1951, but it could not come to the marriage altar, because of great opposition by Suraiya's maternal grandmother. Suraiya remained unmarried throughout her life till she died on 31 January 2004. In 1954, Dev married Kalpana Kartik her actual name was Mona Singha, a Bollywood actress from Shimla, in a very private marriage during the shooting of the film "Taxi Driver". Kartik was Christian. They have two children, Suneil Anand, who is unmarried and Devina Anand Narang. Devina married in 1985, but was divorced a few years later. Devina has a daughter, Gina, who is married to a fashion stylist, Prayag Menon. Gina is a professional photographer.