She also appeared in several television programs, including the soap opera Days of Our Lives (1982–1983), portraying Pamela Prentiss.

She portrayed Diane Alder in the short-lived sitcom Hello, Larry (1979), a role she reprised in a crossover episode with Diff'rent Strokes.

[4] Her other credits include the horror film Grotesque (1988), opposite Linda Blair and Tab Hunter, and guest-starring roles on the series Dragnet (1989) and FBI: The Untold Stories (1991).

Her father was Wayman Otis Wilkes (1918 – 2013), an Irish American chiropractor originally from Texas,[6] while her mother, a nightclub singer from Dominican Republic, was of Spanish and French descent.

[8] She subsequently starred in the Oregon-shot slasher film Blood Song (1982) opposite Frankie Avalon, playing a disabled young woman stalked by a maniacal killer with whom she has a telepathic connection.

She subsequently gained international attention for her leading role in the cult sexploitation film Angel, in which she played Molly "Angel" Stewart, a high school honor student by day, and a prostitute by night, opposite Cliff Gorman, Susan Tyrrell, Dick Shawn, and Rory Calhoun.

[11] Following Angel, Wilkes continued to work in television, making guest appearances on the series Partners in Crime (1984), Hell Town (1985), and Dragnet (1989).