Luis Pérez Ortiz was born on September 5, 1955, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He has four siblings.
Pérez studied at the Parcelas Van Scoy Elementary School, and continued in María Vázquez de Umpierre Junior High School. He completed high school at Dr. Agustín Stahl High School in Bayamón. He has taken several courses in Business Administration.
Pérez began working from a young age. He worked for more than 12 years in various private companies like Belk Lindsey, Almacénes Gonzalo Rivera, and Holsum Bakers of Puerto Rico.
In 1985, Pérez began serving as Planning Official for the Civil Defense. He later worked as Director of the Tomás Kuilan Public Transportation Terminal in Bayamón. In September 1987, he became Director of the Municipal Civil Defense. In 1997, the Mayor of Bayamón, Ramón Luis Rivera, appointed Pérez as Director of the Public Safety Department of Bayamón.