Early career
San Giacomo's first television appearances were four episodes on three television series during 1987. Two notable appearances were in Crime Story in 1988 for the episode "Protected Witness" (season 2/episode 13) as Theresa Farantino and in Miami Vice in 1989 for the episode "Leap of Faith" (season 5, episode 21) as Tania Lewis. The Miami Vice episode also featured a guest appearance by her future husband, actor Cameron Dye, one year before their marriage. Previously, she was featured on the daytime soap opera All My Children as Louisa Sanchez, the Latina common-law wife of Mitch Beck (Brian Fitzpatrick) whose presence threatened to thwart his relationship with Hillary Martin (Carmen Thomas).
San Giacomo first drew international attention in Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), which was her film debut as a credited actor (in the 1988 movie Miles from Home, her role as Sandy was not credited). Her work in the film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and she received a Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award. The film was honored with the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or.
In 1990, San Giacomo played a supporting role as Julia Roberts's character's wisecracking roommate Kit De Luca in Pretty Woman. The film generated $178 million at the box office.
San Giacomo also has appeared in Quigley Down Under (1990), Vital Signs (1990), Under Suspicion (1991), Once Around (1991), Where the Day Takes You (1992), Nina Takes a Lover (1994), and Suicide Kings (1997). She also appeared as Nadine Cross in the Stephen King miniseries The Stand with Rob Lowe, which landed them on the cover of the May 7–13, 1994 issue of TV Guide. She continued doing films, and as 1999 ended, she appeared in the film Eat Your Heart Out. In 2001, San Giacomo landed the starring role in the Jenifer Estess bio-pic Jenifer.
San Giacomo did voice work for the animated series Gargoyles (as the character of Fox). However, she went uncredited for the role because her agent believed it would damage her reputation to have worked on an animated series.
