Adamov was born in Russia to a wealthy family, which, however, soon lost its money in 1917. In common with many other wealthy Russians of the time, Adamov was brought up with French as his first language, and in 1924 he moved to Paris.
In Paris Adamov met surrealists and edited the surrealist journal Discontinuité. He began to write plays after World War II, with La Parodie (1947) being his first. His work, influenced by Bertolt Brecht, is often dream-like and later works in particular have a political element. The title character of one of his better known works, Le Professeur Taranne (1953), is accused of various things (public nudity, littering, plagiarism), all of which he strenuously denies, only to have his denials turned against him into more evidence of misdemenours. This particular play was directly influenced by a dream Adamov had.
Adamov committed suicide in 1970.