Alba Rohrwacher was born in Florence to a German father and an Italian mother.

[2] At the age of 21 she moved to Rome to study acting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.

In 2009, she received a David di Donatello for Best Actress for her performance in Pupi Avati's Giovanna's Father.

Rohrwacher worked with her sister, director Alice Rohrwacher in the 2014 film The Wonders a semi-autobiographical film in which Alba played a role loosely based on the sisters' mother.

As of August 2018[update] Rohrwacher was in a relationship with Italian director Saverio Costanzo.