Tatyana Piletskaya was born Tatiana Lvovna Urlaub on July 2, 1928, in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia). In 1945 she graduated from the Vaganova Ballet School, then studied at the Acting Studio of Bolshoi Dtama Theatre (BDT) in Leningrad. In 1947 she made her film debut in Pirogov (1947).