Carl-Evert Jonsson was born and raised in Umeå, Sweden. In 1957, he began studying medicine at the University of Uppsala. He became a medical doctor in 1964, earned his Ph.D., and became an associate professor in experimental surgery at the University of Uppsala. From 1963 to 1999, he worked in the Departments of Surgery and Plastic Surgery at University Hospital, Uppsala, and Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm. In 1975, he became an associate professor of plastic surgery at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. He has published several articles in medical journals and has had seven solo art exhibitions.