She was unapologetic about her heroin addiction. She wrote at length about heroin and advocated this for legal recreational use in the United States, as well as romanticized its effects.
Wrote a screenplay for a biography of adult film actor John Holmes, which was to have starred Christopher Walken in the lead.
Best known by the public for her role as Thana, the mute seamstress turned vigilante in Abel Ferrara's cult classic Ms .45 (1981).
Wrote an early, unused draft of New Rose Hotel (1998), which was eventually filmed by her longtime friend and collaborator Abel Ferrara.
Briefly attended the Manhattan School of Music; she dropped out after two months.
She resided and worked under many assumed names such as Vanessa Lancaster and Tamara Tamarind.