Her father was a nuclear physicist and her mother, who is from New Zealand, was a ballet dancer and later flight attendant.

In 1993, she was named principal dancer, she also became the first American to win the Erik Bruhn Prize that year.

She has created roles in works by John Neumeier, Twyla Tharp, Alexei Ratmansky, Nacho Duato and Stanton Welch.

[6] Following her retirement, she became the artistic director of ABT's summer program, with over 1,000 students training in various locations across the country.

[7] In March 2016, The Washington Ballet announced Kent would assume the role of artistic director, succeeding Septime Webre.

[11] Kent's repertoire with the American Ballet Theatre includes:[12] Source:[4] Along with Mikhail Baryshnikov, she starred in Herbert Ross' 1987 film Dancers.

[3] In Nicholas Hytner's 2000 film Center Stage she played principal dancer Kathleen Donahue, with original choreography by Susan Stroman.