Her father is Tariq Anwar and her mother is Shireen Anwar. Anwar attended Laleham Church of England Primary and Middle School from 1975 to 1982. Trinian's sketch in the school concert of 1982 gave an early indication of her theatrical leanings. She studied at the London drama and dance school, "Italia Conti". She appeared in many British television productions before making her film debut in Manifesto (1988).
Her first American movie was Espion junior (1991), in which she played the daughter of a murdered British Agent (played by Roger Daltrey). In 1992, she made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills (1990) as "Tricia Kinney". She followed that with the films, A coeur vaillant rien d'impossible (1991) (inspired by "A Girl and Five Brave Horses"), Le temps d'un week-end (1992), Body Snatchers, l'invasion continue (1993), Le concierge du Bradbury (1993) and Les trois mousquetaires (1993). In 1994, People magazine named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. One of her most memorable moments on screen came in 1992's Le temps d'un week-end (1992), when she danced a tango with Al Pacino, whose character was blind.
