She Born in a Muslim family  in Vishakapatnam in  Andhra Pradesh. She is fluent in Telugu and Hindi. She was trained at FTII.

 Zarina worked on her appearance and attended film parties and events.The industry people took notice and decided to cast her in films. She was usually cast as the middle-class. She had a major hit film in Basu Chatterjee's Chit Chor . She also starred in Gharonda . She earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for this role. She has acted in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam movies, and has become fluent in Malayam.

She made a comeback to Malayam in the movie Calendar, which released in 2009. She is slated to appear in the 2010 release, My Name Is Khan as the mother of (Shah Rukh Khan).

She prefers Telugu movies, and has encouraged her daughter Sana to start out acting in a South Indian film, the way she had in a Telugu film Gajula Kistayya (1975) with Krishna. Her daughter Sana Pancholi has tried her hand at acting in 2006. She currently plays older roles in television serials.