Mangal Singh Dhillon was born on June 18, 1957, in Wander Jatana village, Faridkot district, Punjab, India. He completed his early education in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, graduating from Muktsar Government College. In 1979, he joined the Indian Theatre department at Panjab University, Chandigarh, completing his post-graduate diploma in acting in 1980. Dhillon married painter Ritu Dhillon on April 26, 1994, and the couple had a son and a daughter. He passed away on June 11, 2023, in Ludhiana, Punjab, after battling cancer.