[1][2] In her 20s, she moved to New York City and appeared in several Broadway shows, noticed by choreographer Bob Fosse, who cast her as a replacement dancer in Pippin.

She had a secondary lead in the stage version of the film Gigi in 1973, and later appeared in Mack & Mabel, and as Judy in the renowned "new New York cast" of A Chorus Line (when many of the original actors left the show in 1977).

She had been subletting her apartment in New York in defiance of a clause in her rental contract, and during her four months in California for filming, her landlord became aware of the situation.

[citation needed] Her best-known role is playing Valeria opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hit film Conan the Barbarian (1982).

Other appearances include a lunar base officer in the movie Airplane II: The Sequel, the music video "Heavy Metal Love" by the band Helix and the Fred Olen Ray film Possessed by the Night (1994), and guest appearances on television, such as Hart to Hart and a dance sequence choreographed by Stanley Donen in an episode of Moonlighting.