Garry Franklin Baynes Jr. was born on November 18, 1982 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has one older sibling named Dawnia. After living in Pittsburgh for five years, he and his family moved to Inglewood, California. In Inglewood, Baynes attended Highland Elementary School and Crozier Middle School. During his 8th grade year, he relocated with his father; therefore, he left Crozier and graduated from Jordan Middle School in Burbank, California.

During his years of high school, he did not complete 2 years of education at a single high school; he went to a different high school each year. He spent his freshman year at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, CA, sophomore year at Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield, CA, junior year at Gateway Senior High School in Monroeville, PA, and his senior year at Hillcrest High School in Inglewood, CA. Moving from city to city was a very hard time for him. His grades were way below average, he hung around the wrong crowds, mildly got involved with drugs, and he had to make new friends every year. Baynes decided to make a change during his senior year.

During his last year of high school, Baynes got away from negative influences in his life. He began to meet positive people and develop a change in his academic studies. In his senior year, he made history by becoming the first student at Hillcrest High School to win first place in the Inglewood Citywide Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Contest. While living with his mother and sister, he started getting active with different ministries at Faithful Central Bible Church. In 2000, he joined a discipleship fraternity called Alpha Mu Omega, where God is the beginning, middle, and the end. It is a Christian fraternity that is based on four pillars: worldly academics, biblical principles, personal responsibility, and community service. He went through a 13-week spiritual boot camp process that helped to make him a better man physically, mentally, and spiritually. He also got involved in two drama ministries called Faithful Theatrics and The New Faith Players.

After graduating from high school, Baynes attended Los Angeles City College to study website design. With the help of the Ascending Lights Leadership Network, he was able to receive a free education through this organization. While at LACC, he earned a spot on the Dean's List, and later on, the President's List.

In 2002, Baynes started his own side business designing Web pages called Garry Baynes Web Design. In September 2002, he enrolled in a tap dance class while attending LACC and fell in love with it. He has performed at numerous events in the Los Angeles area and has taken tap class taught by Savion Glover. Also, he joined the LACC dance team called "Global Get Down" led by Lourdes Rodriguez. It was a team that consisted on many dance styles such as hip-hop, salsa, tap, merengue, and many more. In 2004, Baynes graduated from Los Angeles City College with an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts and two Web design certifications. Once he finished the rest of his general education requirements, he transferred to UCLA in Fall 2005.

In 2007, Baynes graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's degree in Afro-American Studies with a Sociology concentration. During his two years at UCLA, he really got involved on campus. His background of campus involvements include Controller for the Hitch Suites, Peer Mentor for the Summer Intensive Transfer Experience & Summer Transfer Program, Tap Component Leader of the African Arts Ensemble, Bruin Buddy Day volunteer, and STOMP Conference volunteer. His career plan is to become an Academic Advisor at the college level. In addition to his career plans, he wants to teach beginning tap in the near future.

Hobbies: Tap dance, Halo (all three), computers, game shows, tennis, basketball, designing web pages, rollerblading, bowling, pool, going to the beach, bonfires, board games, and hanging out with friends.