kitt was born on a cotton plantation in north, south carolina. she lived there for the first 7 years of her life, but when she turned 8 years old her family moved to the harlem neighborhood of new york city. while she lived in new york she attended the high school of performing arts. in 1943, while she was in new york, she started her career as part of the katherine dunham company, a dance group founded by famous singer/dancer named katherine dunham. along with dunham, eartha performed in egypt, france, greece, turkey, new york, las vegas and hollywood. she acted in the movie "casbah" in 1948. it was her first role in a movie. in 1960 a star was put for her in the hollywood walk of fame. in 2000 she did the voice of yzma in "the emperor's new groove".