Victor is a Malaysian of Indian descent. She was born in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 4, 1978. She is the eldest and only daughter of Maggie Victor, a single mother of Indian descent. Her siblings include three younger brothers. When Victor was nine years old, her father died, prompting her mother to take on three jobs simultaneously to support her four children. At the age of eighteen, Victor started singing in clubs and hotel lounges.

With the support of friends and family, Victor and her friend, Ravi recorded an album, titled Dream. This self-produced album features songs co-written by Victor as well. There are attempts to promote this album including an appearance on the 8TV show Latte @ 8.

In 2004, her mother encouraged her to audition for Malaysian Idol. Along with ten thousand others, Victor auditioned for Malaysian Idol. The judges Roslan Aziz, Fauziah Latiff and Paul Moss put her through to the next round. Upon landing a final thirty-third spot, Victor performed "Superwoman" live, becoming the seventh person to reach the top twelve.

In the first spectacular show, the theme for the week was "Song from your Pop Idol". Victor choose a song from Indonesian diva Ruth Sahanaya, "Keliru". Coached under Aubrey Suwito, Juwita Suwito along with Elaine Pedley, her performance took her through to the next round. The second theme was "Song from your Classic Idol". Victor's choice was When I Fall in Love where Michael Xavier Voon joined in as performance coach. It gained resounding praise. After another double elimination sending off Fahmy and Rydee, Victor was back the following week performing a "Song from the 80s", Chaka Khan’s I Feel For You. She went on to the "Rock Show" with a performance of Sweet Child O’ Mine.

The last six contestants included Nikki, Dina, Vick, Andrew, and Saipul. Victor performed an effortless Lady Marmalade, but received a less favourable comment from Roslan, who expressed that "she is a super singer but not an idol", and he felt bored week by week of her performances thus far. On the results show, she found herself in the bottom two for the first time (with Nikki, who performed Emotion), but she survived the elimination. After reaching the last three, her chances were improved by her performance of Alicia Keys' If I Ain’t Got You.

Victor had become the final two contestants on Malaysian Idol, and on 9th October 2004, she took the title of Malaysian Idol, earning 76% of audience votes over Dina. In tears, Victor performed the ballad Gemilang (Glory), the song written for the winner of Malaysian Idol, which would subsequently appear on her début album Gemilang. The song's music video incorporated short scenes of Victor through her journey in Malaysian Idol.

Victor's album achieved gold status within weeks of going on sale. Her previously-released album Dream, sold out within days, despite the sudden increase in price[citation needed]. She won the "Best Newcomer Award" on Hitz. FM and "Best New Artist" in Anugerah Bintang Popular.

Since winning, Victor has appeared in numerous television and talk shows such as Pillow Talk and Muzik-Muzik. She has also performed "Gemilang" at a Tsunami Concert held to aid victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. She has performed in duets with Hazami, Taufik Batisah, Akademi Fantasia's second winner, Zahid, Delon Thamrin, and Misha Omar.

Victor first received her international award when she won 'Golden Voice', the grand prize at Shanghai Music Festival, in China on October 28, 2005.

Victor emerged as the champion during the Asian Music Festival in Shanghai with her winning song, "Gemilang". On January 21, 2006, Victor walked away with RTM Hits 1 Best Song and Best Performance awards for Gemilang. Later, on February 5 the same year, the song earned her and its composer Aubrey Suwito and lyricist Azmin Mudin the "Juara Lagu" (Champion of Songs) and "Best Ballad Song" awards in TV3's 20th edition of the Anugerah Juara Lagu. She was expected to win the TV3's "Anugerah Vokal Terbaik" (Best Vocal Award). However, she lost the title to Hazami who performed "Kata". Victor grabbed the Best Female Artiste award at the Anugerah Planet Muzik (Music Planet Awards) in Singapore on March 24.