She danced from an early age, eventually dancing at the St. Louis Muny Opera in performances with the Stuttgart Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet, among many other performances in and around St. Louis. She is perhaps best known for her role as the camp counselor Brenda Jones in the original film Friday the 13th,[2] a performance where she was praised as one of the more "likeable" characters in the film. She also appeared in the soap opera Another World as recurring character Karen Campbell, and in two episodes of the 1972 TV series Emergency!, although she was credited as "Laurie Brighton".