Claudette Nevins was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She is a daughter of merchant Joseph Weintraub and garment worker Anna Lander, both of whom emigrated to America from small towns in Austria. Nevins is a graduate of the School of Performing Arts and a 1957 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of New York University with a degree in English.
Her first film was the 1961 3D feature The Mask, which later became a cult classic. Other feature film appearances include Sleeping With the Enemy (Julia Roberts), All the Marbles (Peter Falk), and Tuff Turf (James Spader).
