Luisa Cira Castro Netto was born in Havana, Cuba and left Cuba during the political upheaval of the 1950s/early 1960s, hiding aboard a ship and making her way to New York City. She chose the stage last name of Moritz after seeing the Hotel St. Moritz in New York City and later named the property she bought on S. Reeves Saint Moritz Hotel. She had a son who remained in Flushing, New York to be raised by her sister when she left for Hollywood.