Samuel was born in Hamilton, Victoria, the son of Maree and Clifford Samuel. He grew up in Adelaide, South Australia and graduated from Rostrevor College in 2001. He has a younger brother, Benedict, a writer, producer and actor, as well as an older sister, Bridget, a stage manager. Despite completing his senior secondary years at Rostrevor College, Samuel undertook final year drama at Christian Brothers College under the tutelage of Amanda Portus, where he played the part of Tom Snout (the wall) in Rostrevor College's production ofShakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as playing "Belvile" in CBC's production of Aphra Behn's The Rover (The Banished Cavaliers). Xavier Samuel later attended Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005, where he studied under renowned acting teacher Professor Julie Holledge. He played Hamlet in the graduate production.

塞缪尔出生于维多利亚州的汉密尔顿，是玛丽和克利福德塞缪尔的儿子。他在南澳大利亚州阿德莱德长大，2001年毕业于罗斯特雷沃学院。他有一个弟弟本尼迪克特，作家、制片人和演员，还有一个姐姐布里奇特，舞台经理。尽管在罗斯特雷沃学院完成了高中学业，塞缪尔还是在阿曼达·波图斯的指导下在基督教兄弟学院学习了最后一年的戏剧，在那里他在罗斯特雷沃学院制作的莎士比亚的《仲夏夜之梦》中扮演汤姆·斯诺特（墙）的角色，并在 CBC 制作的阿芙拉·贝恩的《流浪者》（被放逐的骑士）中扮演“Belvile”。泽维尔·塞缪尔（Xavier Samuel）后来于2005年进入弗林德斯大学戏剧中心，师从著名表演老师朱莉·霍利奇（Julie Holledge）教授。他在毕业作品中扮演哈姆雷特。