Emma Dante grew up in Catania, where she attended the Lyceum. In Palermo she met Michele Perriera, a member of Gruppo 63, and from 1987 to 1990 she studied dramaturgy and directing at the Accademia nazionale d'arte drammatica in Rome. She turned to avant-garde theatre and worked with Roberto Guicciardini. From the mid-1990s, she worked in Turin with Gabriele Vacis. In 1999, she founded the group ‘Compagnia Sud Costa Occidentale’ in Palermo.

She works as an actress, playwright and director. She has staged her own plays in Rome, Paris and New York, among other places. She has been invited to direct her own plays in Aix-en-Provence, Venice, Vicenza and at the Festival d'Avignon. Her group also performed Die Schwestern Macaluso at the Theater an der Ruhr in 2015 and her production of the opera Carmen opened the opera season at La Scala in Milan in 2009. In 2012, she made her debut at the Paris Opera with La muette de Portici. The production was awarded the Premio Abbiati by Italian music critics. In 2014, she staged Feuersnot at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

Her novel Via Castellana Bandiera was awarded the Premio Vittorini in 2009. Dante filmed it herself and it was shown at the Venice Film Festival in 2013, where Elena Cotta was honoured with the Coppa Volpi.