Arcelus was born in New York City, New York, the son of Nobile Fiammetta Farace (b. Budapest, Hungary, February 19, 1940) and Victor Carlos Arcelus. He is of Italian, Russian, Serbian and German descent on his mother's side and Uruguayan descent on his father's. His maternal grandparents were Ruggero Farace, Marchese di Villaforesta, and Princess Catherine Ivanovna, who was the daughter of Prince John Konstantinovich of Russia and Princess Helen of Serbia, and the last member of the Romanov family born before the Russian Revolution.