Jerry Pinto was born in Goa, India. He is a Roman Catholic and of Goan origin. He grew up in Mahim, Bombay. Pinto received a liberal arts degree from Elphinstone College, University of Mumbai, and a law degree from Government Law College, Mumbai.

Jerry Pinto (born 1966) is an Indian poet, novelist, short story writer, translator, and journalist based in Mumbai, India. He writes in English language. Pinto's works include Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb (2006), which won the Best Book on Cinema Award at the 54th National Film Awards, Surviving Women (2000) and Asylum and Other Poems (2003). His first novel Em and the Big Hoom was published in 2012. Pinto won the Windham-Campbell prize in 2016 for his fiction.