Bridget was born in Los Angeles, California, USA, into a family of actors, including her grandfather Henry Fonda, father Peter Fonda, mother Susan Brewer and aunt Jane Fonda.

She was named after Bridget Hayward, who her father was in love with at one time. Peter and Susan Brewer divorced and he married Portia Rebecca Crockett (aka Becky McGuane), who reared Bridget and her brother, Justin, in the Coldwater Canyon section of Los Angeles.

Bridget attended Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. During this time, the children had little contact with their father or any of the Fonda family for that matter. Bridget recalls in an interview, "When I was a kid, the most important thing for me was my home... People would come and go, and things would change, but that place wouldn't. I loved it. I want to have that for the rest of my life. I want to have a place."

Fonda first became involved with the theatre when she was cast in a school production of Harvey. She made her film debut with a non-speaking role in the 1982 comedy Partners, and it was not until 1988 that she had her first speaking role in a feature film. That year, she appeared in both You Can't Hurry Love and Shag.

Although she came from a long line of actors, Bridget resented the implication that acting was in her blood. She not only refused to solicit acting tips and advice from her famous relatives, she worked hard to learn her craft. She studied method acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. During her first two years at the theatre, she suffered from a severe case of stage fright and self-consciousness that were exacerbated by the extra scrutiny she experienced because of her name.

Fonda's first big role in a movie was when she starred as an attractive journalist in The Godfather, Part III. After gaining work on a few theater productions and small movie roles, she was cast in the lead for Barbet Schroeder's Single White Female. Critics proclaimed Bridget's performance as her most expressive to date. A review in the New Yorker proclaimed she had "...a provocative, taunting assertiveness" and Rolling Stone said that Fonda was "a comic delight."

Bridget has turned out a fist full of movies over the past several years and has played each character with uncanny believability. Her father, Peter Fonda, believes his daughter is the most talented member of their family, including his father, whose skill she has said she aspires to attain. Bridget is best known for the movies Single White Female, Point of No Return and Kiss of the Dragon.