Dava was born born Danielle Iannelli on April 27, 1982 in Yonkers, New York, where she grew up. She is of Italian descent. Dava was sixteen when she had sex for the first time. After graduation, Dava moved to Florida to attend college, and once she earned her diploma from University of Central Florida, she remained living Miami for a while, but then returned to Manhattan. Before her porn career, she worked in the front office for United Health Care for two years and for the Hooters restaurant chain for ten years. During her work for Hooters, Dava was promoted to marketing and management, and that job required her relocation to California. There she worked in management for the restaurant chain Tilted Kilt. Meanwhile she worked for Playboy TV and that was before she started filming hardcore porn scenes. While she was working for Playboy TV she ended up drunk on the show and had sex with a guy on camera. That guy turned out to be a porn star (Ryan Driller). She was humiliated when the show aired and was really sorry because it aired on TV. When she went to do another show, she wanted to do it the right way, without alcohol (although it was served to the people who were part of the show) and without sex; but, again she ended up drinking on the show and again ended up hooking up with a guy. Once the second show aired, Kieran Lee told her (on Twitter) that she should do porn, and wanted her to shoot for Brazzers. Her very first hard core scene was shoot for that production. She also filmed for companies such as 3rd Degree, Mile High, Evil Angel, Girlfriends Films, and Desperate Pleasures, and for adult websites such as Pure Mature, Reality Kings, and Naughty America.