Wilkes began acting again at age 17. Her first role was the part of Jackie Peters in the 1978 Universal Pictures film Jaws 2. That same year, she starred as Meredith in Almost Summer, on which she earned a SAG card. At around age 18, she married 39-year-old actor Billy Gray, known for his work on Father Knows Best. The marriage soon ended in divorce. Wilkes played Pamela Prentiss on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, from 1983 to 1984.

Her best known role was in the 1984 cult classic sexploitation film Angel, in which she played Molly Stewart/Angel, a high school honor student by day, and a prostitute by night. The film spawned three unsuccessful sequels in which Wilkes had no involvement. Wilkes was 22 at the time she played the 15-year-old character. To prepare for the role she spent time in halfway houses and rehabilitation centers in LA. “I actually walked on the streets with these girls and talked with them… and I also talked to the people with the group called Children of the Night, and to the Hollywood Police Department, too.”