Adrienne Jo Barbeau made her acting debut in the sitcom series ‘Maude’ in 1972. She played the role of ‘Carol Traynor’ in the series which earned her a ‘Golden Globe Award’ nomination. The show aired its final episode in April 1978. After appearing in television films such as ‘The Great Houdini’ (1976), ‘Julie Farr, M.D.’ (1976), ‘Crash’ (1978), and ‘Someone's Watching Me!’ (1978), Barbeau made her big-screen debut in the 1980 supernatural horror film ‘The Fog,’ directed by John Carpenter. Even though the film received negative reviews upon release, it was a major commercial success and grossed $21.3 million against a budget of $1.1 million. ‘The Fog’ achieved cult status in subsequent years. She went on to star in ‘Escape from New York’ (1981), ‘Swamp Thing’ (1982), ‘Terror in the Aisles’ (1984), ‘Back to School’ (1986), ‘Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death’ (1989), and ‘Two Evil Eyes’ (1990).
In 1992, she joined the main cast of the superhero animated television series ‘Batman: The Animated Series.’ She voiced the character ‘Selina Kyle / Catwoman’ and remained a part of the series until it went off-air in 1995. She next appeared in television series like ‘FBI: The Untold Stories’ (1993), ‘The George Carlin Show’ (1994), ‘Jailbreakers’ (1994), ‘The Wayans Bros.’ (1996), ‘The New Batman Adventures’ (1997), ‘The Angry Beavers’ (1998), and ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ (1999). In 2000, she returned to play ‘Selina Kyle / Catwoman’ in the Flash animated web series ‘Gotham Girls.’ The series ran for 2 years and finally concluded in 2002. After making brief appearances in shows like ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ (2001), ‘Totally Spies!’ (2002), and ‘The Chronicle’ (2002), Barbeau became a part of the television series ‘Carnivàle’ where she played the role of ‘Ruthie.’ The show ran for 24 episodes and concluded in 2004.
Barbeau also starred in television series like ‘K-Ville’ (2007), ‘Cold Case’ (2008), ‘Grey's Anatomy’ (2009), ‘General Hospital’ (2010-2011), ‘Revenge’ (2012), ‘Sons of Anarchy’ (2013), ‘Creepshow’ (2019), and ‘American Horror Stories’ (2021). In the 2021 science fiction streaming television series ‘Cowboy Bebop,’ she played the role of ‘Maria Murdock.’ The series was canceled after one season by Netflix.