Asa-Hossein Pateriya Millar was born in Sacramento, CA, the son of Mary-Elizabeth Millar-Hussain and Ashok Pateriya.  Little is known about his father or why he was given his mother's last name.  When he was three, Millar and his mother moved to Brooklyn, NY.  At the age of five, his father, whom he only remembers meeting once, died of unknown causes.  His mother died a year and a half later of complications with cancer.  He was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Saint Louis, MO.

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Asa expressed an interest in performing arts at an early age, and talks about how he came from a family of performers.  He has said that his maternal grandmother was an operatic/gospel singer.  His biological mother was a SAG actor in the mid-90s, and his aunt who raised him (which he calls his mother) is a singer as well.

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In the sixth grade, Asa began playing the viola, and continued playing until graduating high school.  "I only wanted to play one year, but my parents told me since they bought it (the instrument),  I had to keep playing".  During that time, Asa also sporadically participated in the church choir and some church plays.  Upon graduation,  he gave away his viola, enrolled in the local community college, and took acting classes.  Around this time, he also started taking improvisational comedy classes with The Improv Trick.  Frustrated with the lack of opportunity for minorities in entertainment in St Louis, he collaborated with others to create short films.  "I am an actor by habit, and learned everything else out of necessity."



In 2012, Asa decided to take a chance and move to Atlanta, GA to focus solely on his acting career.