Izabella Scorupco was born to Lech and Magdalena Skorupko in Białystok, Poland, on 4 June 1970. When she was one year old, her parents separated, and she remained with her mother. In 1978, they moved to Bredäng in Stockholm, Sweden, where Scorupco learned to speak Swedish, English and French.

In the late 1980s, Scorupco travelled throughout Europe working as a model, and appeared on the cover of Vogue. In 1987, she was discovered by director Staffan Hildebrand and starred in the film Ingen kan älska som vi ("Nobody can love like us"). In the early 1990s, she had a brief but successful career as a pop singer, releasing the album IZA, which was certified gold in Sweden in 1991. On December 25, 1996, Scorupco married Polish ice hockey player Mariusz Czerkawski, then with the Edmonton Oilers. They had one daughter together, Julia (born September 15, 1997). They separated in 1998.