Paul Fierlinger was born March 15, 1936 in Ashiya, Japan: the son of career Czechoslovakian diplomats. He spent the WWII years in the United States. At the age of twelve: while living in a boarding school in Podebrady, Czechoslovakia, Fierlinger created his first animated film by shooting drawings from his flipbook with a 16 mm Bolex camera.
In 1955 he graduated from the Bechyne School of Applied Arts. After two years of military service, he freelanced in Prague, as a book illustrator and gag car