Her first critical success with moviegoers was her performance in the independent film "Mystic Pizza" in 1988; that same year, she had a role in the fourth season finale of "Miami Vice".
Že pred tem je poleg svojega brata Erica zaigrala manjšo vlogo v filmu "Blood Red" (v filmu je imela samo dve besedi dialoga), ki so ga posneli leta 1987 in izdali leta 1989.