Tré Cool was born Frank Edwin Wright III on December 9th, 1972. He grew up in a remote rural area known as Iron Peak and/or Spy Rock Road, 18 miles outside of Laytonville, California. When he was 14, his family moved to Willits, California, 21 miles south of Laytonville. His dad, a retired Vietnam vet, built some of the houses in the Iron Peak area, and helped build an addition to the house of Larry Livermore, their nearest neighbor and the founder of Lookout Records. Livermore also gave Tré his nickname. At age twelve, he joined Livermore's band, the Lookouts. A lot of their gigs were at Berkeley's punk club, Gilman Street. In 1988, Tré played a gig at a high school party for the Lookouts and a new band called Sweet Children, who later changed their name to Green Day. That gig led to Green Day signing to Lookout Records. The Lookouts and Green Day often played together in the following two years, and after the Lookouts broke up in 1990, Tré joined Green Day as a replacement for their first drummer, John Kiffmeyer (aka Al Sobrante), who left the band to attend college.

In March 1995 Tré married Lisa Lyons, his girlfriend, and together they had a daughter, Ramona (b. 1995). They later divorced, but remain good friends. Tré re-married in 2000 to Claudia, and their son Frankito, which means "Little Frank", was born in 2001. They divorced in 2003, but they still live together in a house in Oakland, California, because of their child. Tré then dated Torry Castellano (Donna C. of The Donnas). They have since separated.