Phillips began her career in acting. She appeared in films such as 1987's Some Kind of Wonderful, 1988's Caddyshack II, 1989's Say Anything and as the title character Roxanne Pulitzer in the 1989 television biopic Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer.

In 1995, she returned to acting appearing as Kim MacAfee in the television movie Bye Bye Birdie. In 2004, she voiced the character of Kitty along with her husband William Baldwin as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom.