David Archuleta was born in Miami, Florida to Jeff Archuleta and Lupe Marie, a salsa singer and dancer from Honduras. Archuleta has four siblings. Archuleta's family moved to the Salt Lake Valley, in the city of Sandy, Utah when Archuleta was 6 and he currently lives in Murray, Utah, where Archuleta is a student at Murray High School. He once suffered partial vocal paralysis but declined risky surgery and has said he feels he is almost fully recovered.
Archuleta started singing at age six, inspired by a Les Misérables video. "That musical is what started all of this," he said. He started performing publicly at age 10 when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he received a standing ovation and won the Child Division.
At age 11 he made his television debut. He sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" on a Jenny Jones show for future Latino stars.