Jordana Brewster was born in Panama City, Panama, to an American investment banker and a former Brazilian fashion model, Maria Joao (nee Leal de Souza). After her birth, she lived in London for six years until she moved to her mother's hometown of Rio de Janeiro, where she became fluent in Portuguese. There she first caught the attention of Brazilian audiences by playing a dancer in a popular children's show. At age 10 she moved to New York. Brewster was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and graduated from the Professional Children's School in New York. She then enrolled at Yale University, from which she graduated in 2003. Her paternal grandfather, Kingman Brewster Jr., was president of Yale University from 1963 to 1977.

Brewster made her debut with a guest role in the daytime soap opera All My Children in 1995. Soon after, she landed the role of Nikki Munson in the soap opera As the World Turns, which in 1997 earned her a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Best Young Actress. While working on the soap, Brewster studied acting and in 1998 made her big-screen debut with one of the lead roles in the teen thriller The Faculty. The following year she appeared in the miniseries The Sixties, soon left the soap opera, and in 2001 starred alongside Cameron Diaz in the film The Invisible Circus.

Brewster's career breakthrough came with her role in the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious, after which she regularly appeared at the top of rankings of the world's sexiest women. Additional press interest in Brewster at that time was sparked by her romance with Mark Wahlberg. Although the film was a big success, she decided to continue her education and next appeared on screen only in 2004, in the failed comedy D.E.B.S. She followed that with a lead role in the independent drama Nearing Grace, and in 2006 appeared opposite James Franco in the film Annapolis. That same year she played the lead role in the horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the most commercially successful project in which she had a leading role.

In 2007 Brewster attempted a return to television with the lead role in the pilot Mr. and Mrs. Smith for ABC, based on the film of the same name starring Angelina Jolie. The pilot had a huge budget, but the network decided not to order it for broadcast. Brewster then guest-starred in several episodes of the series Chuck, and afterward returned to her role in the Fast & Furious franchise. She appeared in the films Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and Furious 7 (2015).