Argento was born in Rome. The City of Rome's register office refused to acknowledge Asia as an appropriate name, and instead officially inscribed her as Aria Argento.
Argento has said that as a child she was lonely and depressed due, in part, to her parents' work. Her father used to read her his scripts as bedtime stories. At age eight, Asia published a book of poems. At the age of fourteen, Asia ran away from her house. She was also an introvert and read to make up for having no friends. Asia Argento has mentioned in interviews that she does not have a close relationship with her father. She has mentioned that he was absent when she was a child. She has also mentioned that she did not have a happy childhood.
Asia Argento started acting at the age of nine playing a small part in a film by Sergio Citti. She was directed by her father Dario Argento in one of her first works, The Church (1989), when she was 12, and Trauma (1993), when she was 16. During this film she also had her first nude scene.
Argento has proven her ability to work in multiple languages.
In addition to her cinematic accomplishments, Argento has written a number of stories for magazines such as Dynamo and L'Espresso, while her first novel, titled I Love You Kirk, was published in Italy in 1999. She has modeled for and endorses the brand "Miss Sixty". The band Hondo Maclean from South Wales, gained Argento's interest when they wrote a track named after her. She liked the track so much she sent them pictures which they used as the cover of their 2004 EP Chasing Angels.
From 17 to 25 October 2006, Argento contributed a video diary to Nick Knight's website, SHOWstudio. She appeared in Placebo's music video, This Picture, and featured on a cover version of Je t'aime... moi non plus with Placebo frontman Brian Molko and dance producers Trash Palace. Argento has also starred in Catherine Breillat's period drama, Une vieille maitresse (An Old Mistress).
She speaks fluent Italian and English. She can also speak French, which she learned for her role in Les Morsures de L’Aube.
Argento has been romantically linked with Sergio Rubini, Michael Pitt and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.
Her first child, Anna Lou, was born on 20 June 2001. Italian rock and roll musician Marco Castoldi (lead singer of Bluvertigo), also known as Morgan, is the father. She named her daughter after her half-sister Anna Ceroli, who died in a motorcycle accident. She and her daughter live in Rome.
In March 2008 She expects a new child in the fall with her new boyfriend, the film director Michele Civetta. They will be married in Summer.
