Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, the daughter of Lorraine Davis, a drama therapist for Alzheimer's patients and former actress, and Paul Sorvino, an Italian American character actor and director. She has two siblings, Michael, and Amanda, a playwright.

Her father did not want his children to become actors; at a young age, however, Sorvino wrote and acted in backyard plays with her childhood friend Hope Davis, in theater productions at Dwight-Englewood High School, and at Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude in East Asian Studies. Her thesis was on anti-African sentiment in China. While at Harvard, she helped found the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, one of Harvard's premier co-ed a cappella groups. Her solo piece was Yaz's Yazoo "Only You".