Ruslana Korshunova was born in Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, and was of Russian descent. Her father, Sergey Korshunov, died in 1992 when she was 6 years old. Her mother, Valentina and her brother, Ruslan, live in Kazakhstan. She spoke fluent Russian, English and German. She was discovered in 2003, when All Asia magazine printed a story on Almaty's local German language club, which Korshunova was then attending. Her photograph, which was featured in the article, caught the attention of Debbie Jones of Models 1; Jones tracked down and signed up the then 15-year-old Korshunova, who was nicknamed the Russian Rapunzel for her long knee length chestnut hair in her early work.

Korshunova was represented by IMG (New York, Paris, London and Milan), Beatrice (Milan), Traffic Models (Barcelona), Marilyn Models and iCasting Moscow, which was her mother agency. Korshunova modeled for the covers of Elle (France), Vogue (Poland) and Vogue (Russia). She also modeled in print-ads for Blugirl by Blumarine, Clarins, Ghost, Girbaud, Kenzo Accessories, Marithé & François, Max Studio, Moschino, Old England, Pantene Always Smooth, Paul Smith and Vera Wang lingerie.

On June 28, 2008 at around 2:30 p.m., Korshunova died after falling from the ninth-floor balcony of her apartment at 130 Water Street in Manhattan's Financial District. Police stated there were no signs of a struggle in her apartment and concluded that Korshunova's death is an apparent suicide, although no suicide note was found.

One of Korshunova's friends stated that she had just returned from a modeling gig in Paris, noting that she seemed to be "on top of the world" with no apparent reason why she would commit suicide. Korshunova's former boyfriend, Artem Perchenok, stated that he dropped Korshunova off at her apartment several hours before her death after they watched the Demi Moorefilm Ghost together. "She was a good person," he told The New York Post. However, she appeared brokenhearted and angry in some of her postings on a social networking site. Korshunova's most telling message came in March 2008: "I'm so lost. Will I ever find myself?"

Vladislav Novgorodtsev, Korshunova's life coach, described Korshunova as heartbroken, lonely, and homesick. According to statements made to the media by Novgorodtsev, Korshunova revealed to him that she was suicidal in the past, having tried to kill herself using various methods at least five times before, beginning when she was 15 years old.

On July 7, 2008, Korshunova was buried at Khovanskoye Cemetery in Moscow. Her mother stated to Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, that the Russian capital was one of her daughter's favorite cities and that "[She] would want her beloved Moscow to be her last resting place."