An only child, Mitchell was adopted and raised Roman Catholic in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

She married briefly at age 17 before becoming an off-Broadway actress and dancer, performing with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

[1] In the mid-1970s, she began appearing in pornographic films such as Captain Lust and the Pirate Women (1977),[1] Sexcapades (1983),[1] Water Power (1976), and The Devil in Miss Jones 2 (1982).

[1] She is the subject of the 1986 verité film Kamikaze Hearts, directed by Juliet Bashore, which follows her behind the scenes of a porn adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen and explores her tumultuous relationship with then-girlfriend Tigr Mennett.

[1][3] In 1996, after a male stalker who was obsessed with her porn films assaulted, raped, and nearly killed her, she quit drugs, became a certified addiction counselor, and later obtained a MA and a PhD from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality[4] while working a variety of jobs including video engineer's assistant, caterer, florist, dog walker, and maid.