In Puerto Rico, Sánchez gained public attention as a dancer and as co-host of a variety show called
Qué Vacilón. At that time, in 1993, Sánchez won the
Miss Puerto Rico Petite contest and, in 1994, she won the international title of
Miss American Petite, bringing her international fame. Sánchez has been named in numerous annual lists of beautiful women including
Maxim Magazines "Hot 100" in 2001, 2002 and 2006;
AskMen.com's "Top 99 Most Desirable Women" in 2005 and 2006; and
FHMs "100 Sexiest Women" in 2005 and 2006. In 2001, Sánchez was cast as Isabella Molina, an undercover
United States Secret Service agent who was
Jackie Chan's love interest in the hit movie
Rush Hour 2. In 2003, she played the role of Lorena in the movie
Chasing Papi, starring alongside
Jaci Velasquez and
Sofia Vergara. Sánchez has acted in some 20 movies, including as Maria in
Edison and as Karen Lopez in
Underclassman. She starred in the Puerto Rican film
Cayo, released in 2005. In 2003, her first musical recording,
Borinqueña, was released. The album's first single, "Amor Amor", gained a lot of attention as well as a
Latin Grammy nomination for Best Music Video. She appeared in
Craig David's music videos "
Hidden Agenda" and "Personal", and in the
Fabolous video for the song "
Make Me Better". In the fall of 2005, Sánchez joined the cast of the CBS television series
Without a Trace, where she played Agent Elena Delgado to 2009. She composed the musical
Yellow, about a singer/dancer/actress who leaves Puerto Rico to hit the big time in New York, in which she played the principal part. The movie was filmed in 2005 and released in 2007. Also in 2007, she acted as Monique, the ballet teacher, in
The Game Plan, and in 2009, starred in
The Perfect Sleep, a
neo-noir drama, co-starring
Patrick Bauchau,
Tony Amendola, Isaac Singleton, and Peter Lucas. In 2011, Sánchez made a guest appearance on TNT's
Rizzoli & Isles, playing villainous attorney Valerie Delgado. '' screening (2013) In 2012, Sánchez was cast opposite
Ana Ortiz of ABC comedy-drama pilot
Devious Maids, created by
Marc Cherry. On May 14, 2012, the pilot was not picked to series by ABC for the
2012–13 United States network schedule. However, on June 22, 2012, Lifetime picked up the pilot with a thirteen-episode order. The series premiered June 23, 2013 on Lifetime. ==Personal life==