Raven-haired Clair Dia was born a redhead in Los Angeles and raised in the San Fernando Valley. She attended City College in San Francisco and majored in occupational therapy. She then worked as a secretary until making her acting debut in What About Jane: An Erotic Soap Opera (1972). During the making of this film she was arrested and thrown in jail on obscenity charges, but spent only four hours there before being released. Clair went on to star in over 20 adult films and directed two more (she had attended Berkeley Film Institute where she studied filmmaking). Even in the films she directed, Clair managed to appear in brief walk-on roles.