Oona von Maydell was born in Possenhofen in 1985. The daughter of actress and author Sabine von Maydell and actor Claude Oliver Rudolph, she studied painting at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar from 2004 until 2007. During that time, she made her acting debut in Dominik Graf's TV thriller "Eine Stadt wird erpresst" (2006). The following year, she appeared in an episode of the TV series "Ein Fall für zwei" and had a memorable turn in Hendrik Handloegten's "Ein spätes Mädchen" ("An Old Maid", 2007, TV). Around that time, Maydell began to study art at the Städelschule, and subsequently enrolled in a masters class in curatorial studies at the Goethe-Universität, from which she graduated in 2013.

The surreal mystery drama "Der Bunker" ("The Bunker", 2015), in which she plays the mother of a neurotic family living isolated in the woods, marked Oona von Maydell's first leading role in a theatrical release.