Yoshizawa was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 3, 1984 and made her first appearance as a gravure idol in the Kodansha company's Young Magazine (ヤングマガジン) in 2002. In February 2003 she posed for gravure photos by Hiroyuki Yoshida (吉田 裕之) released as the photobook Akiho (あきほ) (ISBN 978-4754215507). A month later, Yoshizawa made her AV debut in March 2003 under contract to two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A. Her first video as an AV performer, Angel, was released by the Alice Japan label in March 2003. Her second video 18-Teens was made for the Max-A Samansa in April 2003, and she continued alternating performances between the two studios through the middle of 2006 usually making one movie a month. Among her early videos was the July 2003 incest-themed My Sister Is an AV Idol for Alice Japan directed by sometimes mainstream Director Rokurō Mochizuki. For her work in her first year in AV, Yoshizawa was nominated for the Best New Actress Award at the 2003 X City Grand Prix Awards
In addition to her hardcore AV videos, Yoshizawa has also appeared on TV and in mainstream movies and softcore V-Cinema and pink films including the August 2004 horror movie Koibone which was later (June 2005) released as a DVD by Taki [THD-14161] and the December 2004 pink film Picture Book of a Beautiful Young Girl: Soaked Uniform. Yoshizawa's TV appearances include the TV Tokyo production Jōō (嬢王) which aired in 12 episodes from October to December 2005. Fellow AV Idol Sora Aoi was also in the show. Yoshizawa returned in a special guest appearance in the 2009 sequel to the show Jōō Virgin (嬢王 Virgin).
Along with two other idols, Mihiro and Kaho Kasumi, Yoshizawa also ventured into another medium with the 2005 UMD format video English Cram School where the three actresses give lessons in English. The softcore video, published as GBTU-002 by Success, is for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). Another PSP video and game was the December 2006 All Star Yakyuken Battle, a striptease version of "yakyuken" or "rock-paper-scissors" where Yoshizawa joined with AV actresses An Nanba, Kaho Kasumi, Kaede Matsushima, Mihiro, Ran Asakawa, Rei Amami, Sora Aoi and Yua Aida. The game and video were released for the PSP and in Blu-ray for the PS3.
By the end of 2006 Yoshizawa was no longer making adult videos for Alice Japan and Max-A and began working for two new AV companies, Maxing and S1 No. 1 Style. She appeared in her first video for the new start-up studio Maxing, Sell Debut Love Acky, in that company's first set of videos released on October 16, 2006. She debuted with S1 in January 2007 with Hyper-Risky Mosaic Akiho Yoshizawa directed by Hideto Aki. She has been active with both studios since, appearing in about one movie a month for both studios.
In another genre, Yoshizawa played the female ninja (kunoichi) Kasumi in the erotic action V-Cinema September 2007 release Lady Ninja Kasumi Vol.4 (Kasumi: Tanjou! Sarutobi Sasuke) based on a manga by Youji Kanbayashi and Jin Hirano.
In an erotic manga-based V-cinema, the November 2008 TMC release Irokoishi : Horo-hen kabuki-cho zecchotaiketsu!! (艶恋師 放浪編 歌舞伎町 絶頂対決！！), Yoshizawa plays the heroine Rie. In this third installment in the Irokoishi series (called in English Irokoishi3: Wandering—Kabukicho Ecstasy Battle!!), Rie is the victim of erotic hypnosis by the evil Ishida and is rescued by the hero Kikunosuke using his superior sexual techniques. Also in 2008, Yoshizawa starred as the title character in the V-cinema science-fiction fantasy Maid-Droid which was subsequently (January 2009) released theatrically by Shintōhō Eiga. In 2010 Yoshizawa was selected to star in the inaugural episode in the "Scary Erotic Ghost Stories" (エロ怖い怪談) series of videos combining horror and eroticism.
Yoshizawa continued making AVs and at the end of 2010, she starred in her first 3D adult video, Maxing 3D! for the Maxing studio. Adult videos in this format for the 3D televisions produced by Sony and Panasonic had first appeared in June 2010. A month later, in January 2011, she appeared in another 3D video, 3D Evolution - New Dimension, this time for S1, which had pioneered the genre.
When the major Japanese adult video distributor DMM held a poll of its customers in 2012 to choose the 100 all-time best AV actresses to celebrate the 30th anniversary of adult videos in Japan, Yoshizawa finished in third place. Yoshizawa's video for Maxing, Masochistic Lascivious Lady Akiho Yoshizawa, won the Best Program Award at the 2013 Adult Broadcasting Awards ceremony held in February 2013.
In 2015, she starred in the Korean thriller film Maze: Secret Love (Hangul: 미궁:비밀애; Migung: bimirae).
