	Rainer Dart was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was an actress as a youth with the Curtaineers, an inter-racial theater group at the Settlement house, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and The White Barn Theatre. She also went to classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse as a child. She graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1962 and was inducted into their alumni hall of fame in 2009. She is also a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in theater.