Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet and actor, best known as half of the Grammy Award winning folk duo Simon & Garfunkel.

Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose, a housewife, and Jacob "Jack" Garfunkel, a travelling menswear salesman. His family was Jewish and his paternal grandparents immigrated from Iaşi in Romania. Garfunkel attended Forest Hills High School.

He met his future singing partner, Paul Simon, in the sixth grade - PS 164, Queens. Between 1956 and 1962, the two had performed together as Tom & Jerry. Garfunkel ("Tom Graph") chose his nickname because he liked to track, or "graph" hits, on the pop charts. Garfunkel attended Columbia College in the early 1960s, where he sang with the Kingsmen, an all-male a cappella group (not to be confused with The Kingsmen of "Louie Louie" fame) and was a Brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. In 1962, Garfunkel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in art history, followed by a Master's degree in mathematics.