(left) at the 1993 Emmy Awards Holly's acting career began at the age of 20 when she appeared as Carla Walicki in two episodes of
Hill Street Blues. She was also in one episode of
Spenser: For Hire. At age 23, she joined the cast of the ABC television soap opera
All My Children as Julie Rand Chandler (1986–1989). She portrayed the comic book character
Betty Cooper in the TV movie
Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again in 1990. In 1992, Holly's big break came when she was cast as small-town Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart opposite veteran movie actor
Tom Skerritt on CBS's
Picket Fences for four seasons, appearing in every episode except one. She portrayed
Linda Lee Cadwell, the wife of martial artist and actor
Bruce Lee, in 1993's
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. She appeared as Mary Swanson, Lloyd Christmas's love interest, in the 1994
Jim Carrey comedy
Dumb and Dumber; a doctor in
Sydney Pollack's 1995 remake of
Sabrina; and Lieutenant Emily Lake in the 1996 comedy
Down Periscope with
Kelsey Grammer. In 1999, she starred in the film
Any Given Sunday as the wife of the Sharks quarterback, played by
Dennis Quaid. Holly appeared in the music video for
Dixie Chicks' single "
Goodbye Earl" (2000). She was a member of the cast of
NCIS as Director
Jenny Shepard from 2005 to 2008, reuniting with her former
Chicago Hope co-stars
Mark Harmon and
Rocky Carroll. Holly portrayed the "worldly and stunning" lead medical examiner Dr. Betty Rogers, a regular character on the CTV series
Motive. In 2014, she was reunited with her
Picket Fences co-star, Tom Skerritt, in the film
Field of Lost Shoes. In 2015, Holly starred in
Oz Perkins' horror film ''
The Blackcoat's Daughter''. In 2018, Holly was cast in a recurring role in the third season of
Netflix's
Designated Survivor as Lynn Harper. ==Personal life==