Possessing an alluring fresh-faced beauty, the usually blonde George seemed to have her whole career ahead of her upon her "Home and Away" departure. She spent her initial time out of the TV series grind taking on projects in different fields, including her sleepwear line An Angel at My Bedside and her teen-aimed health and fitness video "Mind, Body & Soul". Baring her enviable shape in Australian Playboy in 1997 was a seemingly controversial move than didn't have much of a detrimental effect on her fan base, but rather kept her in the public's mind. A recurring role that year on the US-Australian co-production "Roar" (Fox) marked her introduction to American audiences, starring opposite fellow Aussie up and comer Heath Ledger in the medieval-set adventure. The long dark hair with blunt bangs and revealing costumes she sported for the series likened the young actress to the similarly-themed "Xena, Warrior Princess", though "Roar" failed to make the leap to a second season. The following year, George made her feature film debut with a small but pivotal role in the thriller "Dark City", her mostly unclothed role memorable to the limited audience that caught the film. She was next featured in "The Limey" (1999), co-starring with Peter Fonda as a doomed young woman whose ex-con father (Terrence Stamp) goes on a mission to avenge her death.

Though a starring regular role in the proposed TV series remake of the popular "L.A. Confidential" seemed like a plum role for the actress, it turned out to be a false start, as the cancelled pilot went unaired, with viewers unable to see her take on Lynn Bracken, the role that Kim Basinger originated and for which she took home an Oscar. George proved impressed with her turn as a bank-robbing cheerleader in the teen black comedy "Sugar & Spice" in 2001, displaying both attributes with her cheekily passionate portrayal of a high-schooler obsessed with "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien. Later that year, David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" screened to raves at Cannes. Initially conceived as a TV series, the pilot was extended into a feature film with George in a supporting role.

That fall, the actress returned to US TV as regular alongside John Stamos in the sexy adventure series "Thieves" (ABC, 2001), playing the more tech-savvy of the two titular career criminals. Well-reviewed but also ratings-impaired, the series did prove to be George's official entry into the Hollywood market, but not without a few more baby steps. In 2003 she landed a pair of appearances on the hit series "Friends" (NBC) playing the too-sexy nanny to Ross and Rachel's daughter Emma, and she followed that turn with prominent guest spots on "Monk" (USA) and "Charmed" (WB) and a supporting feature role in the retro musical "Down With Love" (2003) opposite Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.

Again poised for TV stardom, she was cast as Susan in NBC's U.S. version of the BBC's edgy hit sit-com "Coupling" (2003), but only filmed the pilot episode and was subsequently replaced by Rena Sofer. And lucky for George, as the limp sit-com—touted as the successor to "Friends"—was yanked after only a handful of airings and cancelled. Instead, that same season she took on a prominent supporting role on ABC's action-adventure series "Alias" (2001- ) playing NSC Liaison Lauren Reed, whom show star Sydney (Jennifer Garner) learns married Sydney's beau Vaughn (Michael Vartan) while the spy was comatose for many months. Turning back to film, she appeared in the remake of the horror classic, “The Amityville Horror” (2005). George played the mother of a family who moves into their dream home on Long Island only to find it possessed by evil spirits. Based on a true story, the spirits consume the mind of her husband (Ryan Reynolds), prompting him to repeat a series of grisly murders committed by the previous occupant.