Roberta Marquez was born in Rio de Janeiro to a Peruvian mother and a to a Portuguese father who was raised in Brazil.

She started ballet at age 4, though she also learned tap, jazz, Spanish and African dance.

[3] In 2012, she performed at the Paralympics closing ceremony, alongside Thiago Soares, also a Brazilian principal at the Royal Ballet, as well as several visually-impaired dancers from Brazil.

[4] In 2015, the Royal Ballet announced Marquez would leave the company after a performance of Romeo and Juliet in December that year.

[5] In the 2016/17 season, she returned to the Royal Ballet as a guest artist, dancing Lise in La fille mal gardée.