La Placa is a graduate of Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. She attended Illinois Wesleyan University, where she majored in drama.[citation needed] She performed in a circus show, Circus Fantastic, at Marriott's Great America, now Six Flags Great America.
Before moving to Los Angeles La Placa worked as a cocktail waitress at Chicago's Palmer House on Michigan Ave.
Shortly after moving to Hollywood, La Placa landed the part of Elyse in television sitcom version of Barry Levinson's film Diner. That pilot did not get picked up, and soon thereafter La Placa got a part in the made-for-TV movie Listen to Your Heart (1983).[citation needed]

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