Tatiana Sorokko was born in Arzamas-16 (now Sarov), Russia, on December 26, 1971. Her parents were nuclear scientists. She was attending the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology when, in 1989 she was discovered by Marilyn Gauthier, founder of Marilyn Models Agency in Paris, Sorokko moved to Paris in 1990 and embarked on a modeling carrier.