She is best known for playing the role of Billy Pilgrim's wife, Valencia Merble, in George Roy Hill's the 1972 film version of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.

In October 1988, Gans directed the play The Legend of Sharon Shashanovah, presented at the 47th Street Theater in New York City.

[1] Gans co-wrote A Chekhov Concert with Jordan Charney that was performed by the Moscow Contemporary Theater.

[5] In 2002, Jeannette Walls reported that Gans, who starred in the documentary film Artists and Orphans: A True Drama which had just been nominated for an Academy Award, had come under fire for various controversial practices, including attempts to force gay men to change their sexual orientation.

[6] Rosie O'Donnell, who had narrated the documentary, demanded to have her voice removed, claiming on her show that she did not know the connection between the film and Gans.