She attended Cerritos High School in Cerritos, California, graduating in 1982, before going on to attend California State University, Dominguez Hills where she earned a BA in Broadcast Journalism, with minors in Sociology and Theatre. From 1984-1986, while in college, Rochon was one of the "Spudettes" featured in over 20 spots for the Spuds Mckenzie Budweiser/Bud Light TV commercials. She appeared as the love interest of Gerald Levert in an early music video for the group Levert, and on Luther Vandross's "It's Over Now" video. Rochon starred for one season on The Wayans Bros. television series in 1995 and she has had small roles in several films including Any Given Sunday and First Daughter. She is currently filming Running Out of Time in Hollywood in Los Angeles.

From 1984-1987 she was married to breakdancer Adolfo Quinones. The two met on the film set of Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. In 1996, Lela was chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the "50 most beautiful people in the world". In 1998, she and director Antoine Fuqua were engaged and they married on 9 April 1999. After a miscarriage, daughter Asia Rochon Fuqua was born on 28 July 2002, followed by son Brando in May 2004. Fuqua had a son Zachary from a previous relationship.