He graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama in 1979, then studied acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. In college, Lovitz was friends with David Kudrow, brother of Lisa Kudrow, and went on a backpacking trip across Europe and Israel with him in 1978. Or Jack Benny, sometimes I'll go, 'Well.'' I was influenced by them a lot, the way I say something, the timing or whatever. In imitating their routines, I learned a lot about writing. I learned their routines and performed them at my college dorm. So, I bought Woody Allen: The Nightclub Years, '64-'68. Then I saw that Woody Allen had a record. I thought the movie was so great, and I'd never heard of Lenny, so I went to the record store because I wanted to hear the real guy. Then when I was 16, I saw the movie Lenny, about Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman. 'When I was 13, I saw Woody Allen's movie Take The Money and Run, and I wanted to be a comedian. In a 2011 interview, Lovitz described his comedic influences: After arriving in the United States he Americanized his name to Phillip Lovitz.
His paternal grandfather, Feivel Ianculovici, left Romania around 1914. His family is Jewish they emigrated from Romania, Hungary, and Russia.
Lovitz was born on July 21, 1957, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, to Harold and Barbara Lovitz.
