Smith's first film appearance was in
avant-garde filmmaker
Leland Auslander's short
The Birth of Aphrodite (1971), after a friend of her mother suggested her for the role.
The Birth of Aphrodite won the Silver Phoenix for Best Experimental Film award at the 1971
Atlanta International Film Festival, the
CINE Golden Eagle, and was screened in competition for the Short Film
Palme d'Or award at the
1972 Cannes Film Festival. Jay Lovins later included
The Birth of Aphrodite in an anthology of noteworthy short films that were screened at various film festivals titled
Threshold 9 Illusions (1972). In 1973, Smith made her starring debut as the lead in
Richard Blackburn (director)'s cult-horror film
Lemora. In 1974, four films were released featuring Smith, three of which are now considered cult classics:
Caged Heat (featuring the directorial debut of
Jonathan Demme);
Video Vixens;
Brian DePalma's
Phantom of the Paradise; and
The Swinging Cheerleaders (directed by
exploitation filmmaker
Jack Hill). Smith was in the early stages of pregnancy while shooting
The Swinging Cheerleaders, and in September 1974, she gave birth to her son Justin Sterling (fashion model, musician, and DJ), whose father is rock and jazz guitarist John Sterling. Smith returned to the screen in 1975 with a supporting role in the film adaptation of
Raymond Chandler's novel
Farewell, My Lovely, starring
Robert Mitchum as
Phillip Marlowe, in which Smith was shown in a violent bedroom scene opposite a then near-unknown
Sylvester Stallone. The year of 1976 saw the release of six films where she had minor or supporting roles. One of those films, Richard Lerner's
Revenge of the Cheerleaders had been shot in 1974 when Smith was eight months pregnant. Also included in her 1976 releases are the
blaxpoitation classic
Drum,
Rene Daalder's cult classic
Massacre at Central High, and ''
Slumber Party '57''. In 1977, Smith was featured in a mixture of low budget
B movies such as
The Incredible Melting Man (which also featured director
Jonathan Demme in a rare acting role) and
Robert Aldrich's adaptation of
The Choirboys. She also played the titular character in
Michael Pataki's
Cinderella (1977), with co-star and childhood friend Brett Smiley.
Cinderella was produced by
Charles Band (founder of
Full Moon Features), and this film marked the first of three collaborations between Smith and Band. Also in 1977, Australian exploitation filmmakers
Anthony Ginnane and
Ross Dimsey (who had worked with Smith on the
Ozploitation movie
Fantasm Comes Again) announced that she would star in their upcoming film
Body Count, an adaptation of the novel
Reservation Cowboys, but the film never was made. 1978 was a transitional year for Smith, as she balanced acting with a music career. In the late 1970s, Smith began a career in music as a drummer, vocalist, and songwriter, and she fronted the all-girl rock group named L.A. Girls. While shooting
John Byrum's film
Heart Beat (1980)—based on
Carolyn Cassady's autobiography—in San Francisco, she was asked to join
the Runaways after
Sandy West and
Lita Ford quit the group while the film ''We're All Crazy Now'' was in pre-production. An impromptu group was created on the spot, casting Smith through her counsel Stann Findelle and Runaways manager Toby Mamis. The group was fronted by
Joan Jett, with Smith on the drums as "Sandy". ''We're All Crazy Now'' was a failed production, with only a few musical numbers and scenes being shot before the production was halted due to Jett's health issues. These completed scenes were edited into the 1984 movie
Du-Beat-E-O. Smith briefly continued playing drums for Jett after the Runaways' break-up and provided backing vocals for Jett's
first solo album. 1978 also marked Smith's appearances in Charles Band's cult classic
Laserblast and
Cheech and Chong's box-office hit
Up in Smoke, the latter directed by
Lou Adler, record producer and co-owner of the
Roxy Theatre. In 1980, Smith returned to acting full-time while continuing to work in the music industry. She was among the performers who collaborated with record producer
Jack Nitzsche on the original soundtrack for the
William Friedkin film
Cruising (1980). She also played drums in Phil Lee's band, and at that time, they were romantically involved. Her final two years acting in films included working for Demme in his Academy Award-winning film
Melvin and Howard (1980) and with Cheech and Chong in their 1981 film ''
Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams''. She also worked for the third and final time with Band in 1982's
Parasite, which was shot in
3-D. Smith also was in ''
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'' (1982), portraying
Veronica Lake in a non-speaking role. Smith contributed a spoken-word performance of her song "Sure" for producer and writer
Harvey Kubernik's
Voices of the Angels, a 1982 album of spoken word performances, which also featured writers
Charles Bukowski and
Danny Sugerman as well as musicians Karri Khrome and
Chuck Dukowski. Due to substance-abuse problems, Smith left the film industry after shooting
Independence Day (1983) and supported herself with work as a freelance graphic artist during the 1980s. Smith also had a modeling career and sat for photographers
Ron Raffaelli and Jan Eric Deen as well as for numerous commercial fashion photographers located in Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s. ==Death==