The 13th President of the Philippines, was born on April 19, 1937 in Tondo, a ghetto area of Manila and once the home to the toughies and poorest of the poor, to Engr. Emilio Ejercito (deceased) and Maria Marcelo. His father worked for the government. Joseph's mother, Maria Marcelo, a simple housewife, studied music at the Colegio de Santa Rosa.

After high school, Joseph decided to study engineering to follow in the footsteps of his father. But in his third year at Mapua, he decided to try the movies. Displeased with his decision todrop out of college, his parents forbade him to use his family name, which forced him to adopt "Estrada" (Spanish for street) as a screen name, and "Erap" ("Pare" or friend spelled backwards) as a nickname. During his movie career, he played the lead role in more than a hundred movies and produced more than 70 films. He was the first FAMAS Hall of Fame awardee for Best Actor (1981) and also became a Hall of Fame awardee as a Producer (1983).

Estrada entered politics when he ran for Mayor of San Juan in 1968. He was only proclaimed mayor in 1969, after he won an electoral protest against Dr. Braulio Sto. Domingo. As mayor (1969-1986), Estrada was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in Public Adminstration. He was also named Most Outstanding Mayor and Foremost Nationalist (1972) and Most Outstanding Metro Manila Mayor (1972).