Polina Vladimirovna Maksimova was born into the acting family of Vladimir and Svetlana (Lana) Maksimov.

She studied at a gymnasium in the humanities class. She began acting at school, in L. I. Sobolev's theatre club. In 2010 she graduated from the Shchepkin Higher Theatre School (Nikolai Afonin's course). Polina's graduation role was Larisa Ogudalova in the play Without a Dowry; later she played Genevieve in a production of Claude Magnier's play Blaise. She began acting in films while still a student - the role of Natalya Kvitko in the TV series Take Me with You. Afterwards Polina Maksimova appeared in such films as Two Stories of Love (dir. M. Malich), Love on the Hay (dir. V. Chikov, S. Kurbanov, A. Saidokha), and Angel's Wings (dir. M. Malich). Polina's first roles were in the theatre, first the graduation play, then the play Blaise, after which film directors invited her into the TV series Bombily (the forester's daughter; dir. A. Kalugin) and Raskrutka (Krainova's friend; dir. E. Anashkin). Finally, she received an invitation for a leading role in the TV series The Last Cordons (dir. A. Kopeykin), and in 2009 in the TV series Two Antons (dir. L. Mazor).

In 2012, a photo shoot of Polina Maksimova was published in the July issue of Maxim. From April 2015 to December 2023 she was the host of the program Takoye Kino on TNT.

In September 2015 she appeared in the music video for the song Sumasshedshaya, written by her co-star in the series Deffchonki, Alexey Vorobyov. In 2016 she appeared in Alexey Vorobyov's music video for the song Samaya Krasivaya, and in 2017 in his music video for the song Ya Tebya Lyublyu.