Of all the girls at Andy Warhol's Factory, I was the butch one. [Warhol] put me in his Screen Test and I spent my nights at Max's Kansas City.... I was the strong girl at the Factory.
Woronov was born to Carol Eschholz in the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, when it served as the Ream General Hospital during World War II. Her stepfather, who adopted her, Victor D. Woronov (1907–1975), was a cancer surgeon in Brooklyn. She attended Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights and Cornell University.
She has also made guest appearances on TV shows such as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Charlie's Angels, Mr. Belvedere, Murder, She Wrote, Amazing Stories, St. Elsewhere, Wings, Babylon 5, Family Matters, and Highlander: The Series.
She first made headlines in the early 1960s as a Warhol superstar. She danced with Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Warhol's multimedia presentation of the Velvet Underground. She played Hanoi Hannah in Chelsea Girls, the 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature-length and short). Of this time she has said,
Woronov's notable appearances include the 1975 cult film Death Race 2000 and 1979's Rock 'n' Roll High School (and the 1991 sequel Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever), but her breakthrough role was in the 1982 cult film Eating Raoul. She has since had roles in numerous films including Blood Theatre (1984), Night of the Comet (1984), Chopping Mall and Nomads (1986), Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1991), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) and All About Evil (2010).
She became a fan of the L.A. punk music scene, and made an appearance with actors Jack Nance and John Hullette in the Suicidal Tendencies music video "Institutionalized" (1983). She later appeared in the band's music video for the song "Possessed To Skate" (1987).
The Charlie's Angels TV series paid tribute to her in the "Hellride" episode. The evil race car driver named "Bloody Mary" is a tribute to her role in Death Race 2000.
She has written such books as Snake; Blind Love; and Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory. She appeared in Barneys New York fall 2014 advertising campaign, "L.A. Stories," shot by Bruce Weber.
