Newton Gunasinghe was born in Nawalapitiya on April, 1946. He received his primary education at Nawalapitiya, secondary education at the Wickramabahu Central College at Gampola, and entered the University of Peradeniya in 1963. In 1973 he received his Master's degree in Sociology from the University of Monash, Australia, and his Ph.D from the University of Sussex in 1979.