Mary Elizabeth Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to James Ronald Winstead and Betty Lou Knight. When she was five, the Winsteads moved to Sandy, Utah. Her interest in performing art also began to emerge with interests in ballet and acting.
As a child, Winstead appeared in the Mountain West Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker. Hoping to become a ballerina, at the age of eleven, she received the opportunity to study dance in a summer program of the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. There, she studied ballet and jazz dance, but decided to also study acting. Winstead ended up appearing on Broadway during Donny Osmond’s successful run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
She was also a member of the International Children's Choir during her youth and honed her skills performing at her church.

