Lily Rabe

Rabe was born on New York City's Upper West Side, the daughter of playwright David Rabe and actress Jill Clayburgh. She has a younger brother, Michael, an actor and playwright; and an older paternal half-brother, Jason, a musician. Her father is Roman Catholic, her maternal grandfather was Jewish, and her maternal grandmother was Protestant. Rabe was raised in Bedford, New York, but moved to Lakeville, Connecticut, when she was in seventh grade, where she attended the Hotchkiss School.

Rabe studied dance for ten years. She was teaching ballet at a summer arts program in Connecticut when she was approached by the program's acting instructor, who asked her to perform a monologue in the final production. She read a monologue from the play Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. She said, "It was that moment, performing that monologue, that made me think, 'Maybe this is what I wanna do'." She then went on to study acting at Northwestern University, graduating in 2004.