Kammala wannan jumla: An haifi Holliday a Providence, Rhode Island. Ya kalli Star Trek tun yana yaro, kuma ya so ya zama dan sararin samaniya. Ya girma ne a Scarsdale, New York. Holliday ya yi karatun injiniyan injiniya a Jami'ar Carnegie Mellon, inda ya kasance daya daga cikin injiniyoyi goma sha biyar na Afirka a cikin aji. A lokacin karatunsa ya zama mai sha'awar robotics, kamar yadda nukiliya meltdown a
Tsibirin Mile Uku ya haifar da ƙaddamar da kamfanin Carnegie Mellon mai suna RedZone Robotics, tare da Red Whittaker a matsayin Babban Masanin Kimiyya. Holliday ya yi aiki tare da Red Whittaker wanda ke tsara tsarin robotic don bincika gurɓataccen injin. An zaɓe shi don halartar Jami'ar Sararin Samaniya ta Duniya a 1991 kuma ya kai wasan karshe na rukunin 'yan saman jannati na Amurka a 1994 da 1996. Holliday ya janye aikace-aikacensa zuwa NASA bayan bala'in Space Shuttle Columbia.