 Ayres' first major role was as Valerie Bryson on the daytime serial "The Edge of Night" in the early 1980s.In 1984, she starred in "Velvet", an ABC/Aaron Spelling television movie opposite Sheree J. Wilson, Shari Belafonte and Mary Margaret Humes.In primetime, she co-starred as Linda Bowman on the abbreviated third season of ABC's "9 to 5".