Nautica Thorn is half Japanese, with the rest of her ethnicity made up of equal parts Puerto Rican and Hawaiian. Growing up in Hawai Nautica lost her virginity at age fourteen, and at the same age began working for a local record company in promotion and marketing. From a young age she dreamt of becoming a stripper, and achieved her ambition aged eighteen, two years after moving to California. Almost as soon as she began stripping an agent offered to represent Nautica and she began nude modelling. Thereafter Nautica Thorn started to appear in adult videos, first in masturbation scenes and then hardcore.