Born in Calchin Oeste in Córdoba Province , Bianciotti's parents were immigrants from Piedmont, who communicated among themselves in the dialect of that region but who forbade its use with their son. Instead, they spoke Spanish to him. Bianciotti began his study of French in 1945. He arrived in France in 1961 and completed his French naturalization in 1981. In 1982, he stopped writing in any language but French, his favorite.

Hector Bianciotti was elected to the Académie française on 18 January 1996 to Seat 2, succeeding André Frossard.