His father was born in Paris, France. Jay's paternal grandfather, Johnny Baruchel, was a Sephardi Jew who was born in Alexandria, Egypt. Jay's three other grandparents were from a Christian background. His paternal grandmother, Marie-Madeleine Virlouvet, was French. His maternal grandparents, Robert William Ropell and Helen Margaret Saunders, were from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. His mother is of Irish, English, and German ancestry.