Keanni Lei was born in a military hospital in Denver, Colorado to a Panamanian father and a Chinese mother, and was then flown back to Panama, where she was raised and graduated from high school. At age 19 she moved to Florida with her mother, where she attended The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. It was in college that she developed a love of surfing and skating.

Lei grew up with an interest with a fascination with women; her father worked as a photographer and she would steal some of the photos he shot of nude women. She initially started out in Internet pornography where she worked with her boyfriend. While working on a set in Miami she met porn stars Kelly Kline, Harmony Rose, and Tory Lane, who shared their experiences in the adult video industry. Lei subsequently moved to Los Angeles to pursue the video scene.

Lei lists "Freelance Entertainer" as her occupation and "directing my own line of films and becoming an accomplished surfer and skater" as her future ambitions. "I have been obsessed with the human body ever since I can remember," says Lei.