She was born in Hayward, California, but her family relocated to Calhoun, Georgia in January 1983 when she was 5 years old due to her mother's job. She graduated from Gordon Central High School in Calhoun and began her college education at the University of Georgia in 1996, but transferred to Georgia State University in 1997 because she was performing at Six Flags Over Georgia and the commute was too far from the University of Georgia's main campus in Athens. She studied theater in France in the summer of 1999 taking classes at both the Sorbonne and the Comedie Del Arte. She graduated from Georgia State University, cum laude, in May 2000 with a Bachelors of Arts & Sciences degree as a Film major, Theater minor.
