 He was born in 1902 in Guadalajara, to a family that excelled in literature and politics.His grandmother was poet Esther Tapia, and his father was Guillermo Castellanos Tapia, governor of the state of Jalisco.After a basic education in the UK and attendance at a military school in the United States, Castellanos returned to Guadalajara and studied at Ambrosio Ulloa's Engineering School, obtaining a degree in engineering and architecture in 1924.