Michaela DePrince was born in Sierra Leone Africa, and was naed Mabinity Bangura. Orphaned by war and abandoned by her distant family at a young age, she was known as “Number 27” at the orphanage. She was often tormented as a “Devil Child” because of a skin condition that made her skin appear spotted. At the orphanage, Michaela found a picture of a ballerina, and she was smitten by the picture. She was adopted when she was four by American parents. They enrolled her in a ballet class soon after she came to America.
