Carmen was born in New York City of Spanish and Cuban ancestry. She has starred in a variety of films including Night of the Juggler (1980), Comeback (1982) opposite Eric Burdon, Last Plane Out (1983), Condo (1983) Blue City (1986), Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Fright Night Part 2 (1988) as vampire Regine Dandrige, John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1995), and King of the Jungle (2000) opposite John Leguizamo. In 2012 she played a supporting role in Last Weekend and later starred in Dawn Patrol (2014).