Elli Medeiros was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, to a mother named Mirtha Medeiros who decided to pursue an acting career after Elli's birth. When Mirtha was admitted to Uruguay's Escuela Nacional, she took Elli along, and the young girl attended drama school and Spanish classes taught by Pepe Struch before even starting kindergarten. As her mother's career took off, Elli regularly appeared in plays and TV shows, landing her first role at the age of four as Mme Butterfly's son in a production of Puccini's opera at the Montevideo Opera. Interestingly, Orson Welles also made his debut at the same age in the same production.
Elli's father, José Luis Medeiros, vanished from her life when she was just five years old. She then attended the Uruguyan American School before her mother remarried and moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she enrolled in the Instituto Bayard, a British school. When her mother and stepfather relocated to Paris, France, at the age of fourteen, Elli had to quickly learn French to attend high school. She attempted to attend various schools, including the art school l'Ecole des Arts Appliquées, but eventually dropped out to start her first band, the Stinky Toys, which became the first French punk band. The Stinky Toys played at several London punk festivals alongside the Clash and the Sex Pistols.
Elli's appearance on the cover of 'Melody Maker' magazine convinced French record companies to sign the Stinky Toys, and they released two albums before disbanding. Elli and Stinky Toys' guitarist Jacno then formed the techno pop duo 'Elli & Jacno', releasing several albums, including the score to Éric Rohmer's movie Full Moon in Paris in 1984. After a brief solo career, Elli returned to acting, taking classes with Andreas Voutsinas, a renowned acting coach, and also worked with Madeleine Barchevska and Bob Mc Andrew.
