Serapio Ittusardjuat was born in a qarmaq (sod house) at Akunniq (between Hall Beach and Igloolik, Nunavut) on February 1, 1945. He went to residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, and Fort Churchill, Manitoba. He has studied art, jewellery making, and metalwork at Ottawa School of Art and Nunavut Arctic College, and is a certified journeyman mechanic. Serapio comes from a long line of walrus hunters. He organizes walrus hunts from his summer camp every year. He also goes caribou hunting with family and friends. He now lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his wife.