In Shillong, Meghalaya, India, David was born to “Chinese, Parsi, and a sliver of Jewish ancestry” parents. Robert David, Jenny David’s father, and her mother. Her father is of Indian-Jewish ancestry, while her mother is of Parsi-Indian and Chinese ancestry. She was reared in Canada before moving to London when she was 17 to attend the Guildford School of Acting to pursue an acting career.
In the late 1990s, she came back to Canada to attend Ryerson University in Toronto to study radio and television arts. Tracy David, Karen’s younger sister, is also a Tracy David. David is half-Canadian despite her British accent and mixed ethnicity (“Chinese-Indian-Jewish”) because she spent her childhood in and around the GTA refining her singing and dancing abilities.
She joined the original cast of the musical Mamma Mia after completing acting school. She began her professional career as Ali and Lisa’s understudy and a member of the ensemble. She was offered the chance to collaborate with Indian film composer, record producer, vocalist, and lyricist A. R. Rahman right away.
