Lanza was born in Los Angeles, California on March 12, 1965.
In acting class, her teacher referred her to an agent at the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency and she began working as a model at the age of 16, right after graduating high school, with a GC shoot by Herbert Ritt.
[2] She has appeared on the covers of Elle, Marie Claire, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Harper’s Bazaar.
[5] Her first television appearance was as co-host of Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes show on MTV, in 1987.
Her credits include Red Shoe Diaries (1992), Strays (1997) and The Night We Never Met (1993).