I, the fifth of nine children, was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois (metro Chicago), the son of Lucille (née Nasse), a mail room clerk, and Edward J. Nasse II, a lumber salesman. My parents were Irish American and Catholic. Three of my siblings are also actors: John Nasse, Joel Nasse, and Brian Doyle-Nasse. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan who travels around the country portraying St. Catherine of Siena.

Growing up, my family had little money and my mother pressured her children to get jobs. As a child, I read biographies for children of American heroes like Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickok and Davy Crockett. I attended Loyola Academy. As a teenager, I worked alongside my brothers as a caddy to pay for my tuition in a Roman Catholic High School. The 1960s were tough on me and my family. My father had diabetes, one of my sisters had polio and my mother had several miscarriages. During my teen years I was the lead singer of a rock band called the Dutch Masters and took part in high school and community theater.

After graduation, I attended Regis University in Denver, Colorado where I took pre-med courses. I later dropped out after being arrested for possession of marijuana at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. I worked numerous jobs including a stint at a Little Caesar's alongside future chef Kerry Simon.

I am an avid golfer who often plays in celebrity tournaments. My 1999 book Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf, part autobiography and part essay, expounds on my love of golf. In 2002, me and my brothers starred in the Comedy Central series, The Sweet Spot, which chronicled our adventures playing golf.

While at a golf tournament with British golfer Ian Poulter in St Andrews, Scotland, I was invited by a student of the university to a house party. I went with him and the student reported in Scottish papers that I acted just like I had in the karaoke scene of Lost in Translation, being incredibly fun and energetic. Upon realizing that there were no clean glasses in the house for me to have a drink from, I volunteered to do the dishes and I was said to be very amiable and unpretentious.