Career
Appleby began her acting career at the age of four, starting with advertisements for various products including Cheerios and M&M's. She began acting and taking acting classes because her parents were concerned that she was so shy and introverted. Her first advertisement was for Raisin Bran, but it was never aired. She made guest appearances on many television programs, most notably thirtysomething (1987), Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), ER (1994), Baywatch (1989), Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), 7th Heaven (1997), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), before landing her break-out role in the series Roswell (1999–2002), where she tried out for the roles of Isabel and Maria before landing the leading role of Liz Parker.
Appleby has been featured in a number of music videos, including Bon Jovi's video for "It's My Life" with Will Estes, and the 2004 video for the song "I Don't Want to Be" by Gavin DeGraw, opposite Scott Mechlowicz. She appeared in Sense Field's music video for "Save Yourself," which is part of the Roswell soundtrack and featured in the first season DVD box set. In 2006, she had a recurring role on the short-lived ABC drama Six Degrees as Anya, a young assistant in a relationship with a much older photographer. Later in the same year, she played Hildy Young in the new USA Network series To Love and Die, that began airing in late December 2008. She also participated in a short film called Carjacking directed by Dan Passman and co-starring Geoff Stults. In 2007, she appeared in the movie What Love Is alongside Cuba Gooding Jr., Matthew Lillard, and Anne Heche. Appleby participated in another short film Love Like Wind from Shaolin Film Productions. At the end of 2007, she appeared as Charlie Wilson's press secretary in the film Charlie Wilson's War, which stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. In 2008, Appleby had a recurring role on the 15th and final season of ER (her second time on the show), playing an intern named Daria Wade.
In 2010, Appleby starred in The CW network drama Life Unexpected as Cate Cassidy, a radio talk show host whose daughter whom she gave up for adoption becomes a part of her life. The show was canceled after two seasons. In 2012, she starred as the main character of Dating Rules from My Future Self, which she also produced.
In 2013, she had a role in the Lena Dunham's Girls, an HBO series including a controversial "money shot" scene. She said the role allowed her to break out of a career where she was often typecast as being sweet. Appleby said that she was invited to read for a role when she was on the set of Girls because she was interested in directing and shadowed director Jesse Peretz. After a table read with the cast, she was offered a part.
In 2013, she was cast in the leading role in Unreal, a Lifetime series about the inner workings of a reality program (a show within a show), which premiered on June 1, 2015. It was produced by former The Bachelor producer, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, a former producer of The Bachelor, and writer Marti Noxon. Appleby said that she spent time with a producer to quiz them about the work as part of researching her role as a reality dating show producer. She said that one of the appeals of the show was that the central focus was not about her character being in a romantic relationship. The show received strong reviews and was picked up for four seasons. In 2016, Appleby directed her first episode of Unreal, titled "Casualty". She directed multiple episodes of the series. In July 2018, the series ended. In 2017, Appleby starred in Janicza Bravo's first full-length feature, Lemon, which debuted at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. In 2021, Appleby had a cameo role in the last scene of Season 3 Episode 13 of Roswell, New Mexico, having directed an episode in each of the first two seasons of Roswell.
