Signed at age 17 with the Elite modeling agency of Los Angeles, Maran appeared on her first cover with Glamour magazine in 1998; she was then the featured Guess? Girl in their summer 1998 and fall 1998 campaigns. After building a résumé of over 25 commercials and advertisements, including playing Howie D's companion in the music video of Backstreet Boys hit Everybody (Backstreet's Back), in which she was bitten on the neck by Count Dracula (played by Howie D), Maran moved cross-country to join with Elite in New York City. In 1999, she landed a multi-year deal with Maybelline. Maran appeared in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for three consecutive years: from 2000 to 2002.
Maran's interest in music led her to play casually in two bands: Darling, with socialite Nicole Richie, and Hollywood 2000, where she sang and played violin.
In 2001, Maran appeared in an independent film, as title character Mallory in The Mallory Effect. Maran followed this by appearing as Susan in Swatters in 2002. In 2004, she appeared in three films - as a French model in Little Black Book, as one of Dracula's brides, Marishka, in Van Helsing, and briefly as a cigarette girl in The Aviator. Maran appeared in a short film "The Confession" alongside Wentworth Miller in 2005, and as Kira Hayden in The Gravedancers in 2006.
Maran appeared in the street-racing video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted released in November 2005. She played Mia Townsend, who guides the player's character through the game. She also voiced the character of Annie in the street-racing PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game Midnight Club: Los Angeles released in October 2008.
Maran and her husband, Iranian-American Photographer Ali Alborzi, have two daughters, Rumi Joon, born on June 20, 2006, and Indi Joon, born on July 1, 2012.
In June 2007, Maran launched her own natural cosmetics product line, named Josie Maran Cosmetics. The company motto is "luxury with a conscience" and the main ingredient of the skincare and cosmetics is fair trade argan oil, grown and harvested by co-ops of Moroccan women. Josie Maran cosmetics are sold on QVC and at Sephora.
