She was born February 28, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois (USA). Her parents, Suzette and Arch Farmer, are journalists at the Chicago Tribune. At the age of four she moved to Hollywood, where her father got a job at a television advertising agency. After leaving the new job, the couple founded a company for the sale of candles, paper flowers and costume jewelery, made by them, the "Suzette's candles".
At 16 years old, while attending Hollywood High, Mimsy is noticed by a movie agent who launches her in some films for the small screen. In 1963 she took part in her first feature film: Spencer's Mountain, with Henry Fonda, directed by Delmer Daves, a director who urges her to lose weight, considering her a bit too fleshy for the part.
Than, she starts taking acting lessons and gets other small roles in TV movies, frequently interpreting the prototype of the "bad girl". In the meantime, she begins to harbor a sort of deep dissatisfaction with herself for the kind of cinema that is offered to her, and which she considers too insignificant.
At the age of 19, she marries the stunt-man Wes Harvey, but after just two years she decides to separate, to put aside the film career and goes to Vancouver (Canada) to be involved as a staff member in an LSD experimentation produced by Al Hubbard, an eccentric and enigmatic American millionaire, at the Hollywood Hospital, a private facility in New Westminster that treated alcoholism and psychological disorders. Here the LSD was given in an environment controlled and supervised by trained hospital staff who had themselves tried the drug: while tripping on acid, patients listened to classical music in a room adorned with a reproduction of Dali’s Crucifixion.
After this extreme experience, she returns to homeland and resumes her cinematographic career with the film The Wild Racers (1968) by Daniel Haller, on whose set she meets the French producer Pierre Cottrell who takes her to Europe and presents her to the director Barbet Schroeder. This is how she becomes the protagonist of the scandal film More (1969). The movie, for which the actress also takes care of the dialogues and deals with very daring themes for the time, such as drugs and sex, gives her an immediate and resounding success.
During a vacation in Italy, she meets her future husband, the writer and screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami, with whom she will stage for years a series of shows and operas in various Italian theaters, and from whose union in 1970 her daughter Aisha was born. In the same year she participates in the Jules Verne adaptation Strogoff, and the neo-noir thriller La route de Salina by Georges Lautner. Both films prove to be good successes.
Particularly apt is the subsequent engage for the film 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971) by Dario Argento, where she succeeds in giving her character of Nina a great veracity, not only thanks to the developed acting skills, but also thanks to the experiences gained in psychiatric field.
As a result of these successes, she received numerous writings: she took part in arthouse films such as Il maestro e Margherita (1972) by the Yugoslavian Aleksandar Petrović and Allonsanfàn (1974) by the Taviani brothers, with whom she meant immediately, also being herself, like them, politically committed and registered with the Communist Party.
Later, she works mainly in many genre films, where she often plays borderline characters. Among these are: Il profumo della signora in nero (1974) by Francesco Barilli, Macchie solari (1975) by Armando Crispino, La traque (1975) by Serge Leroy.
Among her last starring roles, must be mentioned Lucio Fulci's horror film Il gatto nero (1981), Arcobaleno selvaggio (1984) by Antonio Margheriti, and the horror film Camping del terrore (1986) by Ruggero Deodato.
After divorcing Cerami in 1986, she settles in France with her daughter Aisha (also an actress) and marries her third husband Francis Poirer in 1989. She continues to act, mainly for television, making her final acting appearance in the TV movie Safari (1991) by Roger Vadim.
In the last decade she has started a sculpting activity for cinema and commercials. Among the films she has worked on: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Beauty and the Beast (2017).
- Gidget Goes Hawaiian .... Girl exiting elevator (uncredited)
1962 - My Three Sons (TV series) - season 3, episode 10: "Steve Gets an A" .... Janee Holmes (credited)
- The Donna Reed Show (TV series) - season 4, episode 35: "The Swingin' Set" .... Laurie Lessing (credit unknown - role unconfirmed)
1963 - Spencer's Mountain .... Claris Coleman (credited)
- The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (TV series) - season 12, episode 4: "Rick's Wedding Ring" .... Virginia (credited)
1964 - Kraft Suspense Theater (TV series) - season 2, episode 3: "A Lion Amongst Men" .... Joan (credited)
- Lassie (TV series) - season 11, episode 16: "Lassie Works a Miracle" .... Jetta (credited)
- Perry Mason (TV series) - season 7, episode 27: "The Case of the Careless Kidnapper" .... Sande Lukins (credited)
- Perry Mason (TV series) - season 8, episode 9: "The Case of the Tragic Trophy" .... Kathy Anders (credited)
- The Outer Limits (TV series) - season 1, episode 23: "Second Chance" .... Denise Ward (credited)
1965 - Bus Riley's Back in Town .... Paula Riley (credited)
1966 - Honey West (TV series) - episode 21: "Like Visions and Omens and All That Jazz" .... Tina Tilson (credited)
- Laredo (TV series) - season 1, episode 16: "The Calico Kid" .... Lorrie Thatcher (credited)
- Laredo (TV series) - season 2, episode 12: "A Prince of a Ranger" .... Antonia (credited)
- The FBI (TV series) - season 1, episode 29: "The Animal" .... Jody Conners (credited)
- The FBI (TV series) - season 2, episode 1: "The Price of Death" .... Sue Wallace (credited)
1967 - Devil's Angels .... Marianne (credited)
- Hot Rods to Hell .... Gloria (credited)
- Riot on Sunset Strip .... Andrea Dollier (credited)
1968 - The Wild Racers .... Katherine Pearson (credited)
1969 - More .... Estelle (credited)
1970 - La route de Salina (Quando il sole scotta) .... Billie (credited)
- Strogoff .... Nadja (credited)
1971 - 4 mosche di velluto grigio .... Nina Tobias (credited)
1972 - Corpo d'amore .... The girl (credited)
- Il maestro e Margherita .... Margherita Nikolajevna (credited)
1973 - Deux hommes dans la ville (Due contro la città) .... Lucie (credited)
- La faccia violenta di New York .... Milena (trailer credit - unconfirmed role)
- Les mille et une mains .... Nadine (credited)
- Morire a Roma .... Anna (credited)
1974 - Allonsanfàn .... Francesca (credited)
- Il profumo della signora in nero .... Silvia Hacherman (credited)
- Les suspects (La polizia indaga: siamo tutti sospettati) .... Candice Strasberg (credited)
1975 - La traque (Il sapore della paura) .... Helen Wells (credited)
- Macchie solari .... Simona Sanna (credited)
1977 - Antonio Gramsci - I giorni del carcere .... Giulia Schucht (credited)
1978 - Ciao maschio .... Feminist actress (credited)
- L'amant de poche .... Helena (credited)
- Les pieds poussent en novembre (TV movie) .... Betsy (credited)
1979 - Concorde affaire '79 .... Jean Beneyton (credited)
- Martin Eden (TV mini-series) - episodes 1-5 .... Lizzie Connolly (credited)
1980 - Il treno per Istanbul (TV mini-series) - episodes 1-4 .... Coral (credited)
- La légion saute sur Kolwezi .... Annie Debruyn (credited)
- Même les mômes ont du vague à l'âme .... Charlotte (poster credit - unconfirmed role)
1981 - Black cat (Gatto nero) .... Jill Travers (credited)
1982 - Il quartetto Basileus .... Miss Permamint (credited - unconfirmed role)
- La déchirure (TV movie) .... Elia (credited)
- La ragazza di Trieste .... Valeria (credited)
1983 - Arabesque (TV mini-series) - episodes 1-3 .... Clara Wieck Schumann (credited)
- La mort de Mario Ricci .... Cathy Burns (credited)
- Un foro nel parabrezza (TV mini-series) - episodes 1-3 .... Daniza (credited)
1984 - Arcobaleno selvaggio .... Kathy Robbs (credited)
- Don Camillo .... Jo Magro (credited)
- La bella Otero (TV mini-series) - episodes 2-4 .... Countess Valentina de Bruges (credited)
- Mio figlio non sa leggere (TV mini-series) - episodes 1-2 .... Carole (credited)
1985 - Fratelli (TV movie) .... Anna (credited - role unconfirmed )
1986 - Atelier (TV series) - episodes 1, 5 & 8 .... Dr. Serena Corte (credited)
- Camping del terrore .... Julia Richie (credited)
- La ragazza dei lillà .... Leonora (credited)
- Quando arriva il giudice (TV series) - episodes 1-5 .... Clara (credited)
- Sensi .... Micol (credited)
1988 - Sei delitti per Padre Brown (TV series) - episode 3: "La sposa bugiarda" .... role unknown (credited)
- La louve (TV movie) .... Liliane (credited)
1989 - Il segreto dell'uomo solitario .... Sara (poster credit - role unconfirmed)
1990 - Ceux de la soif (TV movie) .... Countess Von Kleber (credit unknown - role unconfirmed)
1991 - Safari (TV movie) .... Ingrid (credited - role unconfirmed)
- The Donna Reed Show TV series, 1962) - season 4, ep.: "The Father Image". IMDb as Laurie Lessing.
- The Donna Reed Show (TV series, 1963) - season 5, ep. 30: "Boys and Girls". IMDb as Joanne Wells.
- Hank (TV series, 1965) - ep. 13: "My Fair Co-Ed". IMDb as Barbara.
- Mister Roberts (TV series, 1966) - ep. 30: "Damn the Torpedoes". IMDb as Peachy Keane.
- Orient-Express (TV mini-series, 1980) - ep. 1: "Maria". - IMDb as Woman. I've found no evidence on Radiocorriere TV etc to support that Mimsy really appears in this. Most likely someone has managed to confuse this series with the same year's Il treno per Istanbul, but needs to be confirmed.
- Her Fragrant Emulsion (1987) - IMDb as Billie. This is apparently a 10-minute short that re-uses footage of Mimsy from La route de Salina, so not a real appearance.
- Poisons (1987) - IMDb as Anne.