Her film appearances include Summer Rental (1985), Far from Home (1989), and The Rum Diary (2011).
Austin first gained notability in the late 1970s with a string of television guest appearances on highly rated programs such as Happy Days, The Rockford Files, CHiPs, and Dallas.
In the 1980s, she was a regular on the first season of the successful NBC comedy series Night Court, where she played court clerk Lana Wagner for 10 episodes before being asked to leave the series due to her Bell's palsy.
Austin had a lead role as the wife of John Candy's character in Summer Rental (1985).
Austin was married to Kris Slava at age 19; the couple divorced seven years later.