Iñárritu was born in Mexico City, the youngest of seven children to Luz María Iñárritu and Héctor González Gama. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a cargo ship at the ages of 16 and 18, Iñárritu worked his way across Europe and Africa. He has noted that these early travels as a young man have had a great influence on him as a filmmaker. The settings of his films have often been in the places he visited during this period. After his travels, Iñárritu returned to Mexico City and majored in communications at Universidad Iberoamericana, one of the most prestigious private universities in Mexico.\n', '

Iñárritu began his career in 1984 as a radio host at the Mexican radio station WFM, the country\'s most popular rock music station, where he "pieced together playlists into a loose narrative arc". During his time in radio he also wrote and broadcast small audio stories and storytelling promos, that would become a reference for generations of audio producers, radio Dj\'s and broadcasters as to how to use radio as a more creative media outlet. He later became the youngest producer for Televisa, the largest mass media company in Latin America. From 1987 to 1989, he composed music for six Mexican feature films. During this time, Iñárritu became acquainted with Mexican writer Guillermo Arriaga, beginning their screenwriting collaborations. Iñárritu has stated that he believes music has had a bigger influence on him as an artist than film itself.\n', '

In the early 1990s, Iñárritu created Z films, a production company, with Raul Olvera in Mexico. Under Z Films, he started writing, producing and directing short films and advertisements. Making the final transition into TV and film directing, he studied under well-known theater director Ludwik Margules, as well as Judith Weston in Los Angeles. In 1995, Iñárritu wrote and directed his first TV pilot for Z Films, called Detrás del dinero, or Behind the Money, starring Miguel Bosé. Z Films went on to be one of the biggest and strongest film production companies in Mexico, launching seven young directors in the feature film arena.[citation needed]\n', '

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