While studying music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she became involved with modelling and eventually moved to Paris, France for more than two years. Among other jobs, she modeled for the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret.
She married actor John Stamos in 1998.
In 2000's X-Men, she had her first major movie role as "Mystique"; she returned to the role in 2003's sequel . In these movies her costume consisted of blue latex make-up on her otherwise nude body. She had her first leading role in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale (2002).