Born in Birmingham, Di Trevis was educated at Waverley Grammar School and the University of Sussex where she read Social Anthropology. She worked for several years as an actress first at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and after at the National Theatre. In 1981 she became a director. She has worked extensively at the Royal Shakespeare Company. At the Royal National Theatre, where she was the first woman to run a company, productions have included plays by Shakespeare, Moliere, Lorca and Brecht.
