Kate Valk was born on March 7, 1956, in
Spokane, Washington. Her mother was a nurse, while her father was a jack-of-all-trades; he worked, at various times, at a cement company, a post office, a remodeling company, and on real estate ventures. They moved consistently during her childhood, including to
Wisconsin,
Pennsylvania, and
Maryland. This lower-middle-class childhood did not give her much exposure to the arts. At age 16, she worked part-time at Shepherd Pratt, a nursing home. She attended
Towson State in
Baltimore, Maryland, for two years before moving to
New York City at the age of 19 to pursue a career in theatre. She attended NYU in the studio program and worked with
Stella Adler for two years. During her last semester, she worked with the Experimental Theatre Wing while the
Wooster Group was teaching for the semester and really enjoyed her experience with them. During her time in NYC, she worked for Ding-a-Ling Taxi. ==Theatre career==