Vincent was born in Las Vegas, Nevada of Italian descent. 411mania.com: Movies - 411 Movies Interview: Cerina Vincent of Cabin Fever and Not Another Teen Movie In 1996, she won the Miss Nevada Teen USA title and competed at Miss Teen USA. Though she made it to the top 15, she failed to place at the pageant (televised live), which was held in Las Cruces, New Mexico and won by Christie Lee Woods of Texas.

Vincent's first major role was as the Yellow Ranger Maya in the 1999 television series Lost Galaxy.

In 2001 Vincent appeared in the feature film spoof Not Another Teen Movie as the foreign exchange student Areola, and spends the entire film nude. The character was a spoof of Shannon Elizabeth's character, Nadia, in American Pie (1999). She says that being nude in the movie made her feel much more comfortable with her body. Playboy.com - Arts & Entertainment - Woman on the Verge - Cerina Vincent Photos

In 2003, Cerina starred in a R-rated horror film called Cabin Fever. Cabin Fever featured some of Cerina's most memorable cinematic moments including her "leg-shaving" scene and the "It's like being on a plane..." scene. Cerina did some more nude scenes in Cabin Fever, as well as two racy sex scenes with two different lover characters. However, following her extensive nudity in Not Another Teen Movie, Cerina was cautious about over-exposing herself in Cabin Fever, for fear of being typecast into nudity-oriented roles. This became a point of contention between her and Cabin Fever director, Eli Roth. Roth wanted a clear shot of Cerina's butt during one of the sex scenes, but Cerina vehemently refused. A compromise was reached where Cerina did the scene with her butt facing the camera, as planned, but with a bed sheet covering all but one inch of her butt crack. Roth reportedly measured the exposed region of Cerina's butt with a ruler, to make sure he "got his one inch".

In 2006, Vincent appeared in the Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie Sasquatch Mountain, alongside Lance Henriksen, and got her first leading role in It Waits. She was also in the 2007 release Return to House on Haunted Hill which made its debut straight to video.

She appeared in a 2009 documentary The Women of Horror.

Vincent has written some movie scripts, but admitted in a recent interview that whether or not they will be produced into films remains to be seen.

Vincent wrote her first book in 2007, How to Eat Like a Hot Chick, with co-writer Jodi Lipper.