Eli Zavala was born on May 5. Her mother is a retired teacher and her father is a civil engineer. She has two younger siblings.

After graduating from Law School, Eli traveled alone around Europe. After this journey she returned to Mexico, dropped her legal career and began studying dramatic arts at Escuela de Teatro in Monterrey. Soon after, she took classes at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, in Los Angeles and at The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and The Linklater Center, in New York City.

Eli is fluent in Spanish, English and speaks some French and Italian. She is also a founder member of Splinter Pictures a NYC based film production company focused on creating highly artistic and character-driven stories, and a member of the board of directors of Cinematográfica y Escénica de México a non for profit with the mission of bringing better representation -and fighting misrepresentations- of minorities on the screen.