[2][3][4] Susan Jane Myers was born in Miami on September 1, 1946; some sources say she was a native of Washington, D.C.[1][5][6] From the age of ten, Backlinie lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she swam for miles off the coast and in local pools.

[5] As a teenager she performed as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, a tourist attraction on Florida's west coast; later she worked with wild animals at Ivan Tors Studios, the Miami facility made famous by Flipper.

[5] On a national tour with Ivan, she shared a stage with Gentle Ben the bear, Judy the Chimp, and Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion.

[1][5] When Ivan Tors closed, Backlinie now in her early 20s, relocated to Africa USA, an animal theme park in Redwood City, California.

[5][8] In the early 1970s, when she was 23 years old, Backlinie was working at Africa USA, riding on the back of a 300-lb water-skiing lion named Zamba (also an animal actor).

[11] Attached to her cut-off jeans were metal plates that anchored ropes pulled by groups of men in opposite directions, giving the appearance of being dragged by an unseen force underwater.

She was a popular presence at "JawsFest" events, and enjoyed scuba diving, including on the coast of Australia, where she fearlessly swam with sharks.