Early life

Diaz was born in San Diego, California. Her second-generation Cuban-American father, Emilio Diaz, worked as a foreman for an oil company, and her mother, Billie Early (who has English, German and Cherokee Native American ancestry), worked as an exporting agent. Diaz attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. During her school days, she was called Skeletor by her classmates because she was so thin.