[1] Carlisle is known for co-writing and playing both the lead female and male counterpart roles in the 1982 film Liquid Sky.

[2] She also played a minor role of Victoria in the 1985 Susan Seidelman film Desperately Seeking Susan, the cross dresser prostitute Gwendoline in Crocodile Dundee[3] and starred in an episode of TV series Miami Vice.

Carlisle also adapted and wrote a novel version of her cult, new wave film Liquid Sky.

[6] Carlisle has practiced as a fine artist for five decades, having studied under her mentor Reuben Hale at Palm Beach Community College (A.A. 1975) in Lake Worth, FL, then at the School of Visual Arts (B.F.A.

She currently has an art studio in Boynton Beach, FL, and is a founding member of the board of directors for The Artwork of Reuben Hale, a nonprofit in West Palm Beach, FL.