Ivanova was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, into a family of power engineers.

In 2006, Ivanova graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, where she studied at the Igor Yasulovich's class.

Ivanova made her major debut as Olya in the 2005 film The 9th Company by Fyodor Bondarchuk.

Then, she played the main female role in the film "Franz + Polina" directed by Mikhail Segal.

In 2006, Ivanova was romantically involved with cinematographer Vyacheslav Lisnevskiy, who later became her common-law husband.