An Australian actress, Browning was born in Melbourne in 1988, and is the oldest of three children. She is currently taking a hiatus from acting as she attends high school in Melbourne. Her acting career began quite innocently with a role in a school play when she was only eight years old. A fellow classmates father who was involved in the acting business recommended that she take acting on as a profession.

Her first role was in a 1998 Hallmark Television movie, The Echo of Thunder, which co-starred Judy Davis. After that Browning succeeded in landing several other roles in television series and movies. Her first movie role was in The Man Who Sued God. This was later followed up by parts in movies like 2002's Ghost Ship as well as Darkness Falls and Ned Kelly in 2003.

However, it is probably her role as the stranded Violet Baudelaire in the 2004 children's movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. A part that she won after sending in a videotaped audition at the request of her agent. After she won the role through a face-to-face audition she was reportedly horrified that she would be let go from the project because she wouldn't be able to stop laughing at Jim Carey.

She has received two awards from the Australian Film Institute. In 2002 she won the Young Actor's Award for her work in Halifax and in 2005 she won the International Award for Best Actress for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. She has been nominated for two other Australian Film Institute Awards as well as a BFCA Award and a Young Artist Award.

Her latest film was in Stranded in 2005, but in 2006 she also appeared in a music video by the band, Evermore, titled "Light Surrounding You."