Muttiah Muralitharan was born in the village of Nattarampotha in Kundasale (near Kandy), as the eldest of the four sons to Sinnasamy Muttiah and Lakshmi. Muralitharan's father Sinnasamy Muttiah, runs a successful biscuit-making business. [11]

When he was nine years old Muralithran was sent to St.Anthony’s College, Kandy, a private school run by Benedictine monks. He began his cricketing career as a medium pace bowler, but on the advice of his school coach, Sunil Fernando, he took up off spin when he was fourteen years old. He soon impressed and went on to play for four years in the school First XI. In those days he played as an all rounder and batted in the middle order. In his final two seasons at St Anthony's he took over one hundred wickets and in 1990/1 was named as the 'Bata Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year.'