Virginia Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Los Angeles, California, to director Ray Grey and his wife, growing up in the heart of Hollywood with early exposure to the film industry that shaped her lifelong career.

She began acting as a child at age four, debuting in the 1927 silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin alongside James B. Lowe, and continued with small roles in films like Misbehaving Ladies and The Michigan Kid during the late 1920s and early 1930s, supporting her family through the Great Depression while under contract to Universal Studios.

By her late teens, Virginia Grey transitioned to more prominent supporting parts at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, appearing in features such as Rosalie with Nelson Eddy and Eleanor Powell in 1937, Blonde Inspiration, and The Big Store with the Marx Brothers in 1941, establishing herself as a versatile blonde ingenue known for her charm and comedic timing.​

Virginia Grey left MGM in 1942 after roles in Whistling in the Dark with Red Skelton and Tarzan's New York Adventure, freelancing across studios like Republic Pictures in westerns including Bells of Capistrano with Gene Autry and Idaho with Roy Rogers, before gaining acclaim in film noir and thrillers such as Secrets of the Underground and House of Horrors in 1946 opposite Rondo Hatton.

She excelled in diverse genres throughout the 1940s and 1950s, starring in Flame of Barbary Coast, All That Heaven Allows with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman, Target Earth, and The Rose Tattoo with Anna Magnani, while also appearing in comedies like Mexican Hayride with Abbott and Costello and dramas including Jeanne Eagels.

Her career peaked in the 1960s with memorable supporting roles in major pictures like Portrait in Black with Lana Turner, Back Street, Flower Drum Song, and Bachelor in Paradise, alongside her final film appearance as a boarding house owner in Airport in 1970.​

Transitioning to television in the 1950s, Virginia Grey became a prolific guest star on anthology series such as Playhouse 90, Wagon Train, The Red Skelton Hour, and Burke's Law, as well as westerns like The Virginian and Stagecoach West, maintaining steady work into the 1970s with appearances on Ironside, Marcus Welby, M.D., and Love, American Style.

Never marrying, she enjoyed high-profile romances with actors like Robert Stack, John Ireland, and Clark Gable, and later lived with philanthropist Jimmy Ritz until his death, forming close bonds within Hollywood's inner circles.

Virginia Grey retired from acting in the early 1980s due to health issues, passing away from cardiac arrest and cancer on July 25, 2004, at age 87 in Woodland Hills, California, remembered as a durable character actress whose 50-year screen career spanned silents to blockbusters.​