Born on a farm near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of African-American and Filipino heritage,[1] she worked as a laboratory technician in New York before migrating to Europe as a teenager.

Then, in 1953, she relocated to France and while occasionally working as a governess also sang and danced in nightclubs, where she met director Marcel Camus.

Considered a great beauty,[6] she was featured in November 1959 by Ebony along the likes of Alek Wek, Queen Latifah, Diana Ross, Dorothy Dandridge, Halle Berry, Vanessa A. Williams and Lena Horne".

She also had several theatrical parts, including a starring role in Chérie Noire, a highly successful stage comedy which played for seven years, touring France, Belgium, Switzerland, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco,[8] and Le Jardin des délices (The Garden of Delights), by Fernando Arrabal, with Delphine Seyrig (1969).

She and her fellow lead from that film, Brazilian actor Breno Mello, died just 42 days apart in 2008, both from heart attacks.