Tallchief was born October 19, 1926, in Denver, Colorado, while her parents, Alexander Tall Chief and his wife, Ruth (née Porter), were on a family vacation with her older siblings, brother Gerald and sister Maria. She grew up in Fairfax, Oklahoma, until 1933, when her family moved to Los Angeles so she and her sister could train in ballet dancing. She trained with Bronislava Nijinska and David Lichine. Her father was a member of the Osage Nation, while her mother was of Scottish-Irish descent.
