Lowe was born in Vancouver, British Columbia to a Chinese father and a Scottish mother. At a young age, Crystal and her family moved to Hong Kong where she lived for a few years. As a result, she is now fluent in Cantonese. She then entered such modeling competitions as "Miss Teen Oriental". She has been a sunshine calendar girl, has done various magazine covers and has been in various swimsuit competitions.

Since late 2005 Crystal has been best friends with her Final Destination 3 and Good Luck Chuck co star Chelan Simmons. She now lives in Vancouver

Crystal started out modeling. At the age of 15 she started acting, landing a guest star role in an episode of Stargate SG-1. Her first big break was in Children of the Corn: Revelation as Tiffany. She then had small roles in such films as Get Carter and Insomnia. She also modeled for the video games Need For Speed: Underground and Fight Night 2004. She was cast as Lily in an episode of Masters Of Horror. Shortly after that Crystal was cast as Ashlyn Halperin, her best known role to date in Final Destination 3. She then accepted cameo roles in Scary Movie 4, and Snakes on a Plane.

Crystal was called by Glen Morgan whom she worked with in Final Destination 3, to read for a part in the remake to Black Christmas. She went on to do Wrong Turn 2: Dead End right after Black Christmas. In 2008 she starred in two television movies: Poison Ivy: The Secret Society as Isabelle and Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon as Ashley. The same year she made a cameo appearance in Center Stage: Turn It Up as Lexi.

In 2009, she starred in an episode of Supernatural. Her latest films are Hot Tub Time Machine, in which she stars alongside John Cusack and Lyndsy Fonseca, and Charlie, in which she played the female lead, Rose.

Crystal was been cast as Vala, the younger sister of Faora, in Season 9 of Smallville.

Most recently Crystal has been cast in David R. Ellis's new 3d horror film Shark Night 3D.