Christopher Robert Evans was born on June 13, 1981, in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in the nearby town of Sudbury. His mother, Lisa (née Capuano), is an artistic director at the Concord Youth Theater, and his father, Bob, is a dentist. His father is of Irish descent, while his mother is of half Irish and half Italian descent. His parents divorced in 1999.
Evans has two sisters, Carly and Shanna, and a brother, actor Scott Evans. He and his siblings were raised Catholic. Their uncle, Mike Capuano, served as mayor of Somerville from 1990 to 1999, and as a U.S. Representative from 1999 to 2019.
He enjoyed musical theater as a child, and attended acting camp. He played Randolph MacAfee in the musical Bye Bye Birdie. He and siblings also performed in front of relatives during Christmases, recalling that being onstage "felt like home." Before starting his senior year of high school, Evans spent the summer in New York City, and took classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Evans graduated from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in 1999. He was a schoolmate of Jeremy Strong.