Parrilla was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Sam Parrilla, a professional baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1970s.

Parrilla had roles in a few movies including the Matthew Modine-Martin Landau flick Very Mean Men (2000), the lead role in the unsuccessful Spiders (2000), the starring role in the drama Frozen Stars (2003) and the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Replicant.

Parrilla became noticed in the mainstream when she joined the cast of Spin City in 2000, playing Angie Ordonez for one season. After this, she joined Donnie Wahlberg and Neal McDonough in the 2002 series Boomtown in which she played Teresa, a paramedic. Initially a success, Boomtown quickly fell in the ratings, and Lana's character became a police academy rookie, so as to tie her more closely to the rest of the show. But the show was cancelled just two episodes into its second season.

Parrilla next guest starred in shows such as JAG, NYPD Blue and Six Feet Under.

In 2005, Parrilla took a recurring guest role on the fourth season of 24 as Sarah Gavin, a Counter Terrorist Unit agent. After just six episodes, Lana was promoted to a main cast member, but in the thirteenth episode, she was written out for reasons unknown after her character demanded a promotion from temporary head Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth) which was denied.

In 2006, Parrilla starred in the NBC mid-season television series Windfall alongside Luke Perry, fellow former 24 cast member Sarah Wynter, and Parilla's former Boomtown castmate Jason Gedrick. Windfall was 'canceled' after its first season due to poor ratings.

In 2007, Parrilla guest starred as a character called Greta in the third season episodes of Lost, "Greatest Hits" and "Through the Looking Glass"

She has also signed on to star in a CBS pilot, Swingtown.