Clara was born in Palo Alto, California. She is half Argentine, half Chilean. She has wanted to be a filmmaker since the age of 7, and directed her first 16mm shorts at the age of 15. In 2007 she graduated from Dartmouth College and in 2010 she completed an MFA at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. While offered a place at Oxford for an MSt in Film Aesthetics, Clara chose to remain in Los Angeles to continue working in film. She is related to cinematographer Ricardo Aronovich.