bingham was born in 1987/1988 and raised in the green tree suburb of pittsburgh, pennsylvania, the daughter of craig bingham, a former pittsburgh steelers linebacker, and lynne bingham. she graduated in 2006 from the pittsburgh high school for the creative and performing arts, and attended point park university for two years before relocating to new york city. she began appearing on stage there in 2010, and had a role in the 2011 revival of "rent". during that same time, she co-starred in the web series "in between men", and performed in bam cafe at the brooklyn academy of music.