Born in Tahiti, Karina moved to Spain at an early age. After attending a number of boarding schools and living throughout Europe where she became fluent in Spanish, English, Italian, French, and German, Karina relocated to New York where she began modeling, dancing and acting.

She has appeared on stage in "Uncle Vanya", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Summer and Smoke", "M. Butterfly", "Joan of Arc", "Betrayal" and "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea". Lombard has been seen in many high profile films including The Firm (1993) with Tom Cruise, and played Brad Pitt's wife in Legends of the Fall (1994).