Elisabeth Röhm was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, to American writer Lisa Loverde, and Eberhard Röhm, a German-born partner at the law firm of Duane Morris LLP New York. They relocated to New York City, near Elisabeth's first birthday. An equestrian enthusiast, Elisabeth began competing professionally at the age of 5. She cultivated southern roots at St. Andrews Sewanee, a boarding school in Tennessee, later achieving an A average, majoring in European History (specifically related to the Second World War) with minors in theater and writing at Sarah Lawrence College.

Her first break in television came in a contracted role on One Life to Live (1968), then starring opposite Kyle MacLachlan in The Invisible Man (1998) pilot. Next, she worked in England as a regular on the BBC series, Eureka Street (1999), followed shortly by her recurring role on the American series, Angel (1999). She was soon performing simultaneously on "Angel", and starring alongside Stanley Tucci on TNT's first serialized drama, Bull (2000). Elisabeth went on to star as "A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn" for five years on Law & Order (1990), winning two SAG awards with her ensemble cast.

Elisabeth began dividing her time between television and film, performing with Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan on Big Shots (2007), as well as taking a regular role on ABC's Heroes (2006), while completing five features. She starred with Anjelica Huston and Danny Huston in Bernard Rose's The Kreutzer Sonata (2008), with Kyra Sedgwick and Vincent D'Onofrio in Chlorine (2013), with James Caan in Minkow (2017), the Joel Silver-produced thriller, Transit (2012), opposite Jim Caviezel and James Frain, and John Singleton's Abduction (2011), with Taylor Lautner, Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina. Living in both New York and California, as well as holding dual citizenship in the United States and the EEC, allows Elisabeth to pursue diverse feature film work throughout the US and Europe.

Having recently lost her mother to health issues, Elisabeth has become an advocate for health, engaging in serious workouts at Circuit Works, the circuit training gym she opened in Brentwood, California.

The highlight of her life, daughter Easton August Anthony, is Elisabeth's main priority. Though it is always challenging to be a working mom, Elisabeth bridges the gap between motherhood and her professional career working with her daughter on behalf of "Juno Baby", a line of children's educational products, focusing their energies on making the world a happier, more literate place.

Inheriting the writing urge from her mother, Elisabeth's first novel, "Nerissa", was published in 2009 and is the story of a young painter laboring under sexism in the art world at the turn of the century. Her second novel, "Desire", due to be released in 2011, is set in New Orleans and centers on an unlikely friendship between a seven-year-old girl and a thirty-year-old Haitian woman.

Always an advocate for human rights, health and education, Elisabeth gives time to many causes. While on Law & Order (1990), Elisabeth found time to serve as a board member of her alma matter, "Sarah Lawrence". She soon began working on behalf of the Red Cross as both an ambassador and a trained emergency volunteer, visiting troops and providing aid as faraway as Asia. She was honored as an advocate of the Red Cross for creating the "Hometown Heroes" campaign, featuring a multitude of volunteers, including Julianne Moore and Jamie Lee Curtis. Elisabeth also works with "Step Up Women's Network" - an after-school program for inner city girls in LA, and "MakeTheConnection.org", bringing attention to the connection between cervical cancer and HPV. She joined the "Humane Society" and Purina to encourage animal rescue and fostering, as she has done with the animals that enrich her own life, as well as supporting "Global Green", "The March of Dimes", and "Refugees International".

Elisabeth has also moved into producing, with several projects in development including reality television, scripted television and features.