Adams was born in Manila, Philippines in 1932. Her mother, Carmen Salvador, was a hula Dancer. Her father, José Arrista, was a maternal great-grandfather of Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias. As a child, during the Japanese army's occupation of Manila during World War II, she became a spy for the Philippine resistance, carrying messages between guerilla groups. She was later wounded by shrapnel during the Allied liberation of the island.

Adams' Broadway credits include: Featured Dancer in Kismet, starred in Pajama Game opposite John Raitt and Julie Wilson, and Broadway-bound At The Grand opposite Paul Muni. She married then-struggling actor Steve McQueen four months after their meeting in 1956 while filming MGM’s This Could Be the Night (1957) where she was under contract. Adams opened the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas in 1958 with Dick Shawn and Vivian Blaine.

Her other screen credits include Women in Chains (1972), Fuzz (1972), Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981), and Buddy Buddy (1981). Her television credits include: The Perry Como Show, two Bob Hope Christmas specials, The Eddie Fisher Show, The Patrice Munsel Show, The Pat Boone Show and The Hollywood Palace. Her dramatic television roles include a 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, titled "Man From the South", opposite her husband and Peter Lorre. Two more Alfred Hitchcock episodes followed: a half-hour show directed by Arthur Hiller in which she starred, "One Grave Too Many", and an Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode entitled "Ten Minutes From Now". She also appeared on episodes of such television series as Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Rockford Files, The Bionic Woman, Fantasy Island, and Vega$.