Born in Bucharest, Lara is the only child of Valentin Plătăreanu, an actor, and his wife, Doina. In 1983, her family decided to flee to West Germany to escape Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime in Communist Romania. Although the family had originally planned to emigrate to Canada, they settled down in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, before eventually moving to Berlin.