Jo Woo-ri made her acting debut in the 2011 MBC Every1 sitcom Real School. In 2013, she portrayed supporting roles in KBS2’s Pure Love and MBC’s Medical Top Team. In 2016, she appeared in the hit KBS2 series Descended From the Sun, where she played a couple with Shinee’s Onew. In 2018, she joined the second season of the KBS2 crime procedural drama Mystery Queen, which earned her a Best New Actress nomination at the KBS Drama Awards. That same year, she acted alongside Im Soo-hyang and Cha Eun-woo in JTBC’s My ID Is Gangnam Beauty, which won her the Star of the Year trophy at the 11th Korea Drama Awards. In 2020, she starred alongside Hwang Jung-eum in the KBS2 drama Men Are Men.

Jo Woo-ri previously dated actor Shin Hyun-soo. They were confirmed to be in a relationship in December 2017 but broke up four months later.