 His father was a steelworker and his mother a social worker for Catholic Charities.After graduating from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 1980, English worked as a high school teacher in East Los Angeles.In 1981, he moved to New York City to pursue a career as a writer, working in a series of odd jobs including bartender, janitor, and most notably, taxi driver for three years, while working as a freelance journalist.