Bowen was born in Australia on 12 May 1984. Her parents Tony and Kathleen worked for Qantas and she spent time overseas as a child, including a stint with her family in Zimbabwe. Bowen is a cancer survivor, having had the disease between the ages of four and seven. She lived in Stanwell Park on the South Coast of New South Wales and attended primary school in Dulwich Hill, a suburb of Sydney. Bowen has a younger brother, Timothy, who is a musician.

Bowen attended the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, where she received a Bachelor of Creative Arts degree in 2006.

Bowen appeared as the female lead in the Australian drama film The Combination in 2009 and has guest starred in The Cut, Gangs of Oz, Chandon Pictures and Home and Away. In 2010, Bowen was cast in the leading role of Wendla Bergman, in the Australian production of Spring Awakening, directed by Geordie Brookman, artistically overseen by Cate Blanchett at the Sydney Theatre Company.

In 2012, Bowen landed a series regular role on the ABC drama series Nashville written by Academy Award winner Callie Khouri. The series was picked up by ABC on 11 May 2012.

On 21 January 2014, the Zac Brown Band – featuring Bowen – released a live version of their No. 1 hit from 2010, "Free", with a transition into the famous Van Morrison song "Into the Mystic".

Bowen is also preparing her first solo album, scheduled for 2015, about which she spoke in an interview with Rolling Stone: "We've recorded a couple things and I've been writing and writing and writing."

In December 2015, Bowen became engaged to musician Brandon Robert Young, who proposed at the Grand Ole Opry. They were married on 21 October 2017.