She's of Irish and German descent. Penny grew up in Ohio, California, Hawaii, Florida and New Zealand. She attended both middle and high schools with performing arts programs. While at high school, she did live theatre and musicals and played soccer. She also swam on the swim team. Penny worked as a lifeguard for a little over five years. However, she was dissatisfied with her job as a lifeguard, so she decided to join a modeling website and posted a few sexy pictures of herself. An agent for adult films saw her photos and contacted Penny to do a hardcore shoot. A subsequent career in explicit hardcore movies followed soon thereafter in 2012.