Aames was born in 1956 in Pierre, South Dakota. She acted in high school and attended the University of South Dakota before coming to Hollywood in 1978. She trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and Harvey Lembeck's Comedy Workshop.
Her first film role was as Little Bo Peep in the adult film Fairy Tales (1979). The same year, she played Linda "Boom-Boom" Bangs in the movie H.O.T.S. (1979).
Aames made her mark in Hollywood during the late 1970s and 1980s while appearing in comedies and exploitation films. Most of these appearances were bit parts.
Her film roles included Scarface (1983), Bachelor Party (1984), Basic Training (1985), and Chopping Mall (1986). She did guest appearances on several television shows, including Cheers (1982), and Night Court (1984).
In 1983, she appeared on Cinemax's Likely Stories, playing an 80-foot tall giantess.
Aames was given one of the lead supporting roles in the 1983 fantasy adventure The Lost Empire, directed by Jim Wynorski. As Heather, Aames was able to show her range of skills as an actor and comedienne, and even as action heroine in a memorable prison fight with Angelique Pettyjohn.
In the opening credits of Bachelor Party (1984), Aames appears in a photography studio as a mother having baby pictures taken with her child; she provides the scene with the sexually-charged humor that made for one of her most memorable moments on screen.
She appeared in a recurring role as Penny, a fitness instructor, on The Dom DeLuise Show (1987). It is rumored she appeared in a bodybuilding documentary called Flex in 1988, but this has been little substantiated.
Aames was featured in a number of publications over the years, including Adam Magazine, Playboy, Partner, Variety, Celebrity Sleuth, Femme Fatales and the National Enquirer. She was also selected as one of the "Girls of the Mint 400" joining Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter; Wheel of Fortune's, Vanna White; Playboy's Playmate of the Month, Tracy Vaccaro; actress Lisa Soule' among other pre-discovery models and actresses who represented the famous Las Vegas based on road race (The Mint 400) popularized by Hunter Thompson in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." She was featured prominently in the Mint 400 four-color program pictoral photographed by then Playboy photographer, Robert Scott Hooper.
She was found dead at a friend's home in West Hills in the San Fernando Valley on November 27, 1988. She was 32. The coroner later ruled that her death was a result of a deterioration of the heart muscle, probably caused by a virus.
