[2] Severance attended Westbury High School,[3] and at age 15, started modeling to make money for college.

[2][4] Upon her return to the United States, Severance became one of America's top models, filming over 40 commercials, and earning $7,500 per day.

[5] Severance was also on the covers of the January 1990 and November 1992 issues of Playboy magazine, both featuring her in a nude pictorial.

She usually takes the "femme fatale" roles in low-budget horror and murder-mystery movies including Lake Consequence (1992), Criminal Passion (1994), and Payback (1995).

In the early 1990s, Severance appeared as Samantha "Sam" Dooley, the Martian Belle, in two training videos for Virtual World Entertainment alongside other actors such as Cheech Marin, "Weird Al" Yankovic, R. Lee Ermey, and Judge Reinhold.

[8][9] From 1998 to 1999, Severance played Security Chief Camille Hunter on the Aaron Spelling television series Love Boat: The Next Wave on UPN.

[2] Severance was diagnosed with vitiligo when she was eight years old; the primary area affected by the disease is the skin around her eyes.