Jelka van Houten was born in Culemborg, Netherlands, on 1 September 1978, as the second daughter of Margje Stasse (presently on the board of Dutch educational TV Teleac) and film historian / musicologist Theodore van Houten. She is the only sister of actress Carice van Houten (b. 1976). In the eighties, both young girls made their first stage appearances in school plays in Utrecht and on Dutch TV in a KRO children's programme, produced by Stefan Stasse. A multi-talent, Jelka played the role of an obsessed killer in Liefje (2001), when she was a set design student at the Dutch Film Academy.