The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with appearances in XXX (2002), Land of the Dead (2005) and Marie Antoinette (2006).

Argento is the recipient of several accolades, including two David di Donatello awards for Best Actress and three Italian Golden Globes.

[3] In August 2018, The New York Times detailed allegations that Argento sexually assaulted actor Jimmy Bennett in 2013, when he was 17 and she was 37.

[14] Around the same time, she made her first foray into directing with the short films Prospettive and A ritroso (both 1994) and a documentary about her father (in 1996) and Abel Ferrara (in 1998).

[14] She achieved wider recognition when she portrayed Russian undercover spy Yelena in the Hollywood action film XXX (2002),[17] alongside Vin Diesel.

[13] In addition to her cinematic accomplishments, Argento has written a number of stories for magazines such as Dynamo and L'Espresso, while her first novel, titled I Love You Kirk, was published in Italy in 1999.

She is featured on the song "Life Ain't Enough for You", which was released as a single along with the B-side "My stomach is the most violent of all Italy", in which she also contributes vocals.

[26] In 2014, Argento played supporting role in the British film Shongram, a fictional romantic drama based around the factual and historical events of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

[31] In 2017, she expressed regret for signing the petition, calling it "a mistake"[32] and stating later on that Polanski's continued career "speaks terribly of the industry".

[33] Argento moved to Germany in 2017, citing experiences of victim blaming received in Italy following her allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

Argento alleged in an October 2017 New Yorker article by Ronan Farrow that she had been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein in the 1990s.

[42] On 24 January 2021, Argento alleged that director Rob Cohen had drugged her with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid and raped her during the filming of xXx.

[43] On 19 August 2018, The New York Times published allegations that Argento sexually assaulted actor Jimmy Bennett.

[4] The alleged assault occurred in 2013 when he was two months past his 17th birthday in a hotel room in California, where the age of consent is 18; Argento was 37 at the time.

He imparted that he had sought to resolve the matter privately,[45] and had not spoken out sooner "because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative".

[46] Argento denied the allegations, claiming that she never had a sexual encounter with Bennett and that when he made a request for money to her, her partner Anthony Bourdain paid him to avoid negative publicity.

[46] Fellow #MeToo advocate Rose McGowan initially expressed support for Argento and implored others to show restraint, stating, "None of us know the truth of the situation and I'm sure more will be revealed.

"[48] McGowan faced criticism on social media for her comments, which contradicted the #MeToo movement's message of believing survivors.

[48] Following Argento's denials, a photograph of her topless in bed with Bennett was published, as well as her alleged admission of sex with him in text messages to model Rain Dove.

It highlighted Asia's contribution as well as that of her mother (Daria Nicolodi), father, grandfather (Salvatore), and uncle (Claudio).