Maria Tallchief, born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief (𐓏𐒰𐓐𐒿𐒷-𐓍𐓂͘𐓄𐒰 "Two-Standards"; Osage family name: Ki He Kah Stah Tsa, Osage script: 𐒼𐒱𐒹𐒻𐒼𐒰-𐓆𐓈𐒷𐓊𐒷; January 24, 1925 – April 11, 2013), was an Osage ballerina. She was America's first major prima ballerina and the first Native American to hold the rank. Together with Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine, she is widely considered to have revolutionized American ballet.

Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1925, as the third child of Alexander Joseph Tall Chief (1890–1959), a member of the Osage Nation, and his second wife, Ruth (née Porter), of Scottish-Irish descent. Porter had met Alexander Tall Chief, then a widower, while visiting her sister, who was his mother's housekeeper at the time. Elizabeth Marie was known as "Betty Marie" to friends and family.

Elizabeth Tall Chief's paternal great-grandfather, Peter Bigheart, had helped negotiate for the Osage concerning rights to mineral and other resources of their reservation land. When oil was discovered, oil revenues enriched members of the Osage Nation. Her father grew up with wealth, never working "a day in his life."

In her autobiography, Tallchief explained, "As a young girl growing up on the Osage reservation in Fairfax, Oklahoma, I felt my father owned the town. He had property everywhere. The local movie theater on Main Street and the pool hall opposite belonged to him. Our 10-room, a terracotta-brick house stood high on a hill overlooking the reservation." The family spent summers in Colorado Springs to escape the Oklahoma heat. Life was far from perfect, though, because her father was a binge drinker and her parents often fought about money.

Tallchief's father had first been married to a German immigrant and had three children from that marriage before her death: Alex III; Frances (1913–1999); and Thomas (1919–1981). Thomas played football for the University of Oklahoma, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Alexander and Ruth Tall Chief's first child was a boy, Gerald (1922–1999). He was severely injured in childhood when kicked in the head by a horse and never regained normal cognitive function. Their second, Marjorie, became an accomplished ballerina in her own right. She also was Tallchief's "best friend."

As a child, Ruth Porter had dreamed about becoming a performer, but her family could not afford dance or music lessons. She was determined that her daughters would have opportunities for both. Marjorie and Betty Marie were enrolled in summer ballet classes in Colorado Springs, the latter starting at age 3. She and other family members also performed at rodeos and other local events. Betty Marie studied piano and contemplated becoming a concert pianist.

In 1930, a ballet teacher from Tulsa, Mrs. Sabin, visited Fairfax looking for students and took on Betty Marie and Marjorie as students. Looking back on Sabin many years later, Tallchief wrote, "She was a wretched instructor who never taught the basics, and it's a miracle I wasn't permanently harmed." In addition to the problems in her teaching technique, Sabin had put Betty Marie en pointe shortly after she joined the school (at 5 years old), when she was far too young to be able to dance en pointe without injury.