Khan was born on 22 October 1942 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is an ethnic Afghan Pashtun in [Kabul Afghanistan].[2] He is the son of Abdul Rehman Khan who was from Kandahar while his mother was Iqbal Begum from Pishin, Balochistan. He had three brothers Shams ur Rehman, Fazal Rehman & Habib ur Rehman who all died before he was born.[3] He is a Haffiz-e-Quran. At the age of one, his family immigrated to Bombay and started living in the crime infested slums of Kamathipura . He enrolled in a local municipal school and later in the Ismail Yusuf College after which he obtained a master's diploma in engineering- (M.I.E.) from the Institution of Engineers (India) specializing in civil engineering. Between 1970 and 1975, he taught at M. H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering in Byculla as teacher of civil engineering. On the college's annual day function, Khan took part in a play and it was acclaimed by all present. Dilip Kumar came to know about it; he called him and showed keenness in watching the play. Khan made special arrangements and acted the play for him. Kumar was so impressed that he signed him for his next two films: Sagina Mahato and Bairaag. Khan lives in Mumbai, the home of the Hindi film industry. And he has family, who lives in the Netherlands and Canada. He has three sons; Sarfaraz Khan and Shahnawaz Khan and the third son lives in Canada. His son Sarfaraz Khan has also acted in several films. It is reported that Kader Khan is also a citizen of Canada.[4] He currently lives in Santa Cruz, Mumbai.