Elson was born in New York City on March 6, 1969. She grew up in New York City with her parents and an older sister named Samantha (born circa 1966). While Elson was still a child, the family moved to San Diego, California for a period of four years before returning to Westchester County, New York.
Although Whiz Kids lasted only one season, Elson's role as Alice established the 14-year-old and her teenage co-stars as prominent fixtures in the various teen magazines of the era, including 16 magazine, Bop and Teen Beat, among others. The role also led to Elson and the rest of the teenage Whiz Kids cast to make a crossover appearance on the 1983 episode of Simon & Simon entitled "Fly the Alibi Skies".
In 1986, Elson landed a co-starring role on the NBC science-fiction situation comedy ALF. On the series, Elson portrayed Lynn Tanner, the teenage daughter in a typical middle-class suburban family who adopt a friendly extraterrestrial, performed by Puppeteer Paul Fusco. The series lasted four seasons and Elson's portrayal earned the teenage Actress two Youth in Film Award nominations, before the series' cancellation in 1990.
As of 2016, Elson was working as a yoga instructor.
