Originally she wanted to pursue a career in medicine and entered the Baku Medical College.

While in college, she became an active member of the amateur drama club and revealed a passion for acting and singing.

[2] Her musical gift was discovered during one of the performances attended by composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, who offered Hasanova a job as a soloist at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Hasanova performed mainly in mugham operas, a synthetic genre uniting European belcanto with Azeri folk music.

Throughout her life, she occasionally appeared in minor and mostly uncredited roles in a number of feature films.