Gardner graduated from the University of Maryland in Baltimore with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Video in 1985. Her first work experience in Hollywood came was on the 1987 film Tin Men (featuring Seymour Cassel), on which she coordinated the film's "picture cars" (vehicles that were actually being filmed). She also worked with the picture cars in her next film and was a member of the art department in the John Waters films Hairspray (1988) and Cry-Baby (1990, starring Iggy Pop).