Lai was born in the United States in 1954, his father then serving as ROC consul-general in Seattle. Not long after he was sent back to Taiwan for junior high school studies, his father passed away, after which he and his elder brother grew up in Taiwan under their mother's care. In his youth, therefore, he had already tasted the impermanence of life.
一九五四年出生在美國的賴聲川，父親是我國駐美國西雅圖總領事和外交部情報司長，被送回台灣念初中時，父親因病過世，賴聲川由母親帶他和哥哥在台灣成長，可以說在少年時便已經歷了人生的無常。