Born in Los Angeles, California, USA, Jennifer worked in her first film at the age of 9, in a nonspeaking role for the film Death Of A Stranger (Tod eines Fremden (1973)). At 14, she attended summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and landed a role in the Disney TV movie The Young Runaways (1978) (TV), and received her Screen Actors Guild membership in a Baretta episode at 16. Jennifer performed in several TV-movies and dropped out of Pacific Palisades High School six weeks short of graduation for her major role in the film Eyes of a Stranger (1981). Her first major success came as the female lead in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Had a part filmed for Eyes Wide Shut (1999). When director Stanley Kubrick wanted to do re-shoots, she was unavailable and her entire part was redone with another actress. She attended the infamous "Stagedoor Manor," which is an upstate New York summer camp that trains teenagers in acting, singing and dancing. Her fellow alumni include sitcom actor Zach Braff from NBC's "Scrubs" (2001), the writer and director Todd Graff (who made a film about the camp), and the pop star Mandy Moore.