Wood was born Svetlana Nikolaevna Zakharenko to Russian parents, but they grew up far from their homeland: her father lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, while her mother grew up in a Chinese province. After her parents were married, they settled in Santa Monica, California, where Lana was born. By this time her parents had legally changed their surname to Gurdin. Her older sister was actress Natalie Wood. They have a half-sister, Olga Viriapaeff, from their mother's previous marriage.

As an infant, Lana appeared in Driftwood (1947), but her scene was deleted from the final version of the film. Lana's first credited film role was in the 1956 western classic The Searchers (1956), which starred John Wayne and also featured Lana's sister Natalie. Natalie's stage name was Wood, given to her by the producer of her first film. Maria was asked under what last name Lana should be credited, and Maria agreed it would be best if she could be credited as "Wood," like her sister. As a child, she also made guest appearances in Playhouse 90 (1957), The Real McCoys (1958) and appeared in the film Marjorie Morningstar (1958).

Early on in her adult career, Wood usually played bit parts in films Natalie appeared in. Starting in the 1960s, her own career took off. One of her roles was in the beach party film The Girls on the Beach (1965). After appearing in the short-lived drama series The Long, Hot Summer, she landed in the role of Sandy Webber in the soap series Peyton Place. She played the role from 1966 to 1967.

In 1971, Lana was approached to pose for Playboy by Hugh Hefner and agreed. The Playboy pictures appeared in the April 1971 issue, along with Wood's poetry. Even though her sister strongly disapproved of Wood's move to pose nude, the publicity was a major reason for her being cast as Bond girl, Plenty O'Toole, in the 1971 James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever, in which, in one scene with Sean Connery, she appeared wearing only a flimsy pair of see-through panties .

Wood has more than 20 other films and over 300 television shows to her credit, including The Fugitive, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Police Story, Starsky and Hutch, Nero Wolfe, Fantasy Island and Capitol. Some of her other film roles have been in the Disney film Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972) and the western Grayeagle (1977). After appearing in the horror film Demon Rage (1982), she retired from acting, concentrating on her career as a producer.

In 1984, Wood published the controversial tell-all book Natalie, A Memoir by Her Sister, shortly after the death of her sister. The book reached #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List. In 2004, she produced the biopic The Mystery of Natalie Wood. She recently returned to acting and has several projects in production. Lana is a character in the new Steve Alten book "Meg: Hell's Aquarium".

Lana has married and divorced five times, all by age 29. Her first marriage at age 16, to Jack Wrather Jr, was annulled after a few months. Her second marriage at age 18 was to Karl Brent. In her early 20s she was married to Steve Oliver and Allan Balter. Lana married a fifth time at 26 to Richard Smedley in 1973. They have a daughter, Evan Taylor Maldonado, born on August 11, 1974. They separated and divorced in 1975. In the 1980s she had a long-term relationship with actor Alan Feinsten.

Wood was romantically involved with actors Warren Beatty, Ryan O'Neal, Alain Delon, and Sean Connery. She talks about these relationships with detail in her autobiography.

On November 29, 1981, Wood's sister Natalie drowned near Catalina Island under suspicious circumstances. Lana has said: “The person I loved more than anybody else, with the sole exception of my own daughter, is dead. I cry for her often. I expect I always will”. Later on, their mother Maria who had Alzheimer's disease moved in with Lana. Maria Gurdin died on January 6, 1998. Lana wrote a book about her experience with Maria which was not published. She is estranged from her two nieces: Natasha Gregson and Courtney Wagner.

After Lana published her tell-all memoir Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister, her former brother-in-law Robert Wagner broke off contact with Lana. Wagner later married actress Jill St. John, who was a childhood acquaintance of Natalie's and co-starred with Lana in Diamonds Are Forever. In the spring of 2000, the women became involved in an altercation during a cover shoot for Vanity Fair featuring the Bond Girls. Lana cooperated with author Suzanne Finstad on her biography of Natalie, Natasha, in which Finstad suggests Wagner played a part in Natalie Wood's death.