Larisa Vikkel was born in Velikiye Luki. She lived on Sibirtsev Street and studied at School No. 1. After graduating from school, she moved to Moscow, where she graduated from VGIK (workshop of E.P. Garin) and served at the Moscow State Theatre of Film Actors. Her father was Wilhelm Eduardovich, a civil engineer; her mother was Lyudmila Pavlovna, a chief engineer in the city communal services department.

Her husband was Leonid Reutov, an actor. Their daughter Olesya was born from him, followed by a divorce. Due to her mother's busy schedule in theatre and cinema, Olesya was raised in Luki by her grandparents. In the early 1990s, when theatre funding sharply decreased and there was almost no work, Larisa Viktorovna began to abuse alcohol, and that ended her career.