She had started her career in television as an anchor in a Muslim oriented television quiz show named Punyamaasathiloode and the Orbit Digital vision production Shruthilayam on Kairali 2005, produced by Sameer Glory. She then started her acting career in 2006 as a child artist in the Malayalam film Palunku (2006), directed by Blessy, in which she played the daughter of Mammootty’s character. She went on to become an anchor on Asianet’s popular music reality television show Munch Star Singer. The Mohanlal-starrer Oru Naal Varum (2010) was her next venture, in which she played Dhanya, the daughter of Sreenivasan’s character. She was cast in an album titled Yuvvh by Sony Music Entertainment, which became very popular among the youth.

She studied at Our Own English High School, Al Ain, UAE and at Christ Nagar School, Thiruvananthapuram and Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Trivandrum. She has stated that she wants to study something related to business and that she may take up either a Commerce or BBA course. In 2013, she joined Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, but reportedly left the college, owing to her tight shooting schedules.

In 2014, she was first seen in Salalah Mobiles, which flopped despite having a strong star cast, including Dulquer Salmaan. She has completed filming for Thirumanam Enum Nikkah in Tamil, in which she acts as a Tamil Iyengar girl and Om Shanthi Oshaana in Malayalam, sharing screen with her lucky charm Nivin Pauly. As expected, the film became a big hit, and became a blockbuster, running 50 days in almost all theatres. Her most recent films are Bangalore Days and Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram in Malayalam, Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah and Vaayai Moodi Pesavum in Tamil. Nazriya was signed to star in Nee Nalla Varuvada in October 2013. However, in March 2014, Kajal Aggarwal was signed on and replaced Nazriya. In 2014, she received a Vijay Award in the category of Best Debut Actress for her acting in Neram (2013). She won the best actress in the 45th Kerala State Film Awards. Nazriya made a comeback with the Prithviraj-starrer, Anjali Menon film, Koode, after taking a break from films following her marriage to Fahadh Faasil. In 2020, she acted in a film Trance along with her husband after an year break from Koode and her acting is highly appreciated. her role on Trance, is different from other roles she did in her career. finally she comes out of the cocoon of her cute, cuddly and naive “Nazriya-like” characters with bold and scintillating character Esther Lopez.

In January 2014, Malayalam film actor Fahadh Faasil announced to the media that he was set to marry Nazriya. The pair got to know each other more on the sets of Anjali Menon’s Bangalore Days (2014), in which they played the roles of husband and wife. Fahadh and Nazriya revealed that their parents played a pivotal role in arranging the marriage. The pair were engaged in February 2014, before having a wedding ceremony on 21 August 2014 in Thiruvananthapuram.