Known for her collaborations with director James Cameron,[2] she won a Saturn Award for her portrayal of Private Vasquez in his 1986 sci-fi horror film, Aliens.

Her other notable film appearances include Diamondback in Near Dark (1987) and Meagan Shapiro in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), alongside cameos in Star Trek Generations (1994) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).

[6] She next appeared as Diamondback, a mysterious vampire, in Kathryn Bigelow's neo-Western horror film Near Dark (1987), receiving her second Saturn Award nomination for the role.

Goldstein played Janelle Voight, the foster mother of John Connor, in James Cameron's big-budget sci-fi action film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which broke box office records upon its release in 1991.

[7] Next, she made cameos as a USS Enterprise science officer in Star Trek Generations (1994), an Irish immigrant mother in Titanic (1997)—her third collaboration with Cameron—and a hotel maid in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).