Mowry was born in Gelnhausen, West Germany to Darlene Flowers, who managed her children's careers and also worked as a security guard, and Timothy Mowry, who was in the U.S. Army at the time of her birth and later became a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department when the family moved to California. Her mother is African American and her father is Italian American; the two met in high school in Miami, Florida, and both joined the U.S. Army, and both would reach the rank of Sergeant before leaving the Army. She is the older sister of Tavior and Tahj Mowry. She is younger than her twin sister, Tamera, by two minutes. Her family is "close-knit" and "deeply religious", as the sisters became born again Christians when they were eight..