 Egoyan was born Atom Yeghoyan (Western ) in Cairo, Egypt, the son of Shushan (née Devletian) and Joseph Yeghoyan, artists who operated a furniture store.His parents were Armenian-Egyptians, and he was named Atom to mark the completion of Egypt's first nuclear reactor.In 1962, the family moved to Canada, where they settled in Victoria, British Columbia and changed their last name to Egoyan.