Emiliana Torrini grew up in Kópavogur, where, at the age of 7, she joined a choir as a soprano, until she went to opera school at the age of 15. In 1994, she became well-known in Iceland after winning the song competition of junior colleges in Iceland (Icelandic: Söngkeppni framhaldsskólanna), at the age of 17, singing "I Will Survive". Her father is Italian and her mother Icelandic. Her father owns and operates a well-known Italian restaurant in Iceland, where she once worked as a waitress.

From 1994 to 1996, Torrini released three albums in Iceland, Spoon (with a band of the same name), Crouçie d'Où La, and Merman. But she gained fame only in 1999 with Love in the Time of Science (produced by Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears). Torrini was able to sing "Gollum's Song", the end theme of Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when fellow Icelander Björk backed out due to pregnancy. In 2005 she released the album Fisherman's Woman featuring the singles "Sunny Road" and "Heartstopper." In 2006, Torrini was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards held in Reykjavík in four categories: Pop Album of the Year, Song of the Year (Sunny Road), Singer of the Year and Video of the Year (Sunny Road, Directed by Ali Taylor at Sherbet). She won all except Song of the Year. In January of 2007, a demo of her song "Beggar's Prayer" was featured in an episode of the TV-series Grey's Anatomy. It appears on her new album, titled Me and Armini, released worldwide on September 2008.

She has been a member of Icelandic artist group GusGus, and contributed vocals to several songs on their album called Polydistortion (1997), most notably "Why", which she sometimes still performs live. She co-wrote Kylie Minogue’s "Slow" and "Someday" off her Body Language album in 2003. She also produced "Slow" along with Dan Carey; the two were nominated for a Best Dance Recording Grammy Award in 2005 for their work on the track. Prior to these, she contributed vocals to songs on Thievery Corporation's 2002 record The Richest Man in Babylon. Also in 2002, Torrini sang vocals on Paul Oakenfold's song Hold Your Hand taken from his Bunkka album. Torrini has toured with Moby Sting, Dido Travis, Tricky, and Adem.