Marie Ipiluni was born in San Pedro, California. Her mother is Aleut and raised Marie between Southern California and Cordova, Alaska a small fishing village in the Prince William Sound. The family settled in Seattle, Washington when Marie turned sixteen, to give Marie and her sister better opportunities in life than the small fishing village in Alaska. In Seattle Marie focused on high school and fell in love with theater, performing in both her high school and local community theater. Where she was soon making top billing on productions such as Cheaper by the Dozen (Ernestine), Hello Dolly (Ermengarde) and Leader of the Pack (Annie). After high school graduation Marie started attending University of Washington for theater and dance. Her academic career was cut short by the starting of her own family.