Tawny Roberts grew up in a very traditional Mormon family. Her father was a Bishop, one of the key positions within the Church. Tawny has said that her upbringing gave her a strong sense of values and a good work ethic. After high school she went to college in Utah for fashion and design but quit after 2 years and took a job in retail management in Los Angeles, California. It was during this time that she met Dayton, another pornstar and through her learned about the adult business.  Dayton then introduced her to some other friends, and through those introductions she was able to get work with the porn producers at Metro Interactive. In late-2000 and early-2001 she worked for them in three movies, Wild Cherries, All Teens Love Cum 1 and All Fucked Up, but she was not happy with the quality of the movies or her working conditions and as a result almost quit the adult business all together.   Roberts is known to have engaged in lesbian encounters offscreen; fellow porn star Gina Lynn once said "Tawny is the only girl in the industry that I play around with outside of work".