At age 19, while working as a bricklayer, he auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and was accepted with a scholarship. He began working on construction and odd jobs, eventually settling in Sydney. When he left the college, his father gave him $400 and sent him on a one-way trip to Cairns, Queensland, telling him to 'work his way home'.
He attended John Curtin College of the Arts, a school specialising in the dramatic arts, located in Fremantle, Western Australia, where he studied drama but did not graduate. (née Martyn), is a housewife, and his father, Ronald W. He grew up in Warnbro, a suburb of Rockingham.
Worthington was born to English parents in Godalming, Surrey, in South East England, and moved to Perth, Western Australia, when he was six months old.