Vincent was born in 1975 in the Northern California hamlet of Placerville. After graduating from East Union High School in Manteca, California, she worked at an adult bookstore in Sacramento while planning to study theater in Los Angeles. She became interested in the adult industry and met Samantha Style. Her first film, in which her stage name was Jewel Valmont, was for Seymore Butts in 1998. She began acting as a natural brunette, but began dyeing her hair blonde in 2000. In that year she also changed her stage name to "Ava Vincent" because her fans and employers confused her with by other actresses who had "Jewel" as part of their name: Jessica Jewel, Jewel De'Nyle, etc.

In 2001 Vincent lost about 20 lb. to increase her popularity, possibly helping her to win several adult awards later year. On 2 July 2001 she married John Decker; she wore a China-doll dress at the Las Vegas wedding. In 2002, Vincent and Decker divorced. She later dated Kurt Lockwood.

Vincent was featured on the cover of the August 2001 edition of Penthouse magazine; she was Pet of the Month for the same issue.

In 2005, Vincent secretly entered Hustler TV's "Can You Be A Pornstar?" contest, meant to give unknown actresses a contract and career boost in the form of a reality TV game show. Vincent wore a black wig and adopted the name 'Kat'. She featured in the program's third episode, though her ruse was discovered and she was disqualified before the final votes went in. It was clearly implied that her entry was a joke on her behalf "not a serious attempt to compete for the show's prize".