Camille Cottin was born in Paris, but spent her teenage years in London before returning to France, where she became a high school English teacher. At the same time, she took classes at a theatre and dramatic art school and then with the company "Théâtre du Voyageur". She played small roles in many films and television series. In 2009, she joined the "Troupe à Palmade". She appeared the same year in an advertisement for a Japanese telephone, directed by Wes Anderson with Brad Pitt, with music by Serge Gainsbourg with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" sung by France Gall.
In 2013, she played the main role in Connasse on Canal+ produced by Silex Films, a series consisting of sketches in candid camera of less than two minutes each. Written by Noémie Saglio and Éloïse Lang, the episodes were broadcast on Le Grand Journal and became available on DVD from 4 March 2014. She later appeared in the film based on the series titled Connasse, Princesse des cœurs, released in 2015.
In 2015, Cottin played the lead role of agent Andréa Martel in Dix pour cent (Call My Agent!), a television series which ran for four seasons that was first broadcast on France 2 and which later enjoyed wide international distribution on Netflix; Cottin won a Best Actress ACS Award for her role. In 2016, Cottin appeared in Allied, Iris, and Cigarettes et chocolat chaud.
