Harris was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California to a Tamil Indian mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris (1938-2009), and a Jamaican father, Donald Harris.
"She is the daughter of an Indian mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris-a breast cancer specialist who emigrated from Chennai, India, to the United States in 1960-and a Jamaican American father, Stanford University economics professor Donald Harris. She has one younger sister, Maya, who is now married to Tony West, a former Associate Attorney General of the United States.
