Acting Morales had a guest appearance on
CSI: Miami in 2006, and played a character in
Pimp My Ride that year, a video game version of the
MTV television series
Pimp My Ride. Her first major role was in
The Middleman, a
sci-fi dramedy which aired on the
ABC Family network for one season. She starred as Wendy Watson; the series was adapted from the comic book,
The Middleman. Morales also starred in and executive produced a
Web series, titled
Quitters. The series was an official selection of the 3rd annual
ITVFest (Independent Television Festival) in Los Angeles in August 2008. In 2009, Morales joined the cast of the
USA Network television series
White Collar for the first season. She portrayed Lauren Cruz, a junior
FBI agent. In May 2010, after her dismissal from the
White Collar cast, Morales began recurring on the
NBC sitcom
Parks and Recreation, as Lucy, the girlfriend of
Aziz Ansari's character
Tom Haverford and bartender at The Snakehole Lounge. Morales appeared in
Oliver Stone's 2010 film,
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a sequel to his 1987 film
Wall Street. She was cast as
Chelsea Handler's best friend in
Are You There, Chelsea?. She left the series when the cast was replaced for creative reasons. Morales also appeared on
Aaron Sorkin's
HBO drama,
The Newsroom, guest-starring as Kaylee, the girlfriend of
Dev Patel’s character, Neal. In 2013, Morales joined the cast of
Trophy Wife as Meg, Kate's best friend. In 2015, she joined the cast of the Fox series
The Grinder. In 2017, she appeared in some episodes of the NBC series
Powerless. Morales appeared as Detective Anne Garcia in the
Netflix horror comedy series
Santa Clarita Diet. Morales was in the television series ''
Abby's, an NBC multi-camera sitcom created by Josh Malmuth and executive produced by Parks and Recreation
creator Michael Schur. Their third series for the network, it premiered on March 28, 2019. Later that year, Morales was cast as Michelle in the Netflix black comedy series Dead to Me'', appearing in seasons 2 and 3. In 2022, Morales was cast as Kate Danton in season 3 of
The Morning Show. The following year, Morales was cast as
pediatric surgeon Dr. Monica Beltran on ''
Grey's Anatomy'', appearing in a recurring role for two seasons. Her final appearance was in the show's
season 22 premiere. In 2025,
Variety ranked Morales-lead movie
My Dead Friend Zoe as one of the 10 Best Movies of the year. That same year, she was part of the main cast of the
miniseries The Beast in Me, portraying the estranged wife of
Claire Danes's character. She was also cast as Cassie in the
Amazon MGM Studios rom-com
You Deserve Each Other. That same year she also directed the drama film
Language Lessons (2021) which she co-wrote with writer-director
Mark Duplass. They both star in the feature, which they filmed during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The film is set over
Zoom as a Spanish teacher (Morales) communicates with her student (Duplass). Katie Erbland, critic of
IndieWire praised Morales' work on the film writing "Morales’ winning
Language Lessons offers one of the best uses of the format yet, a 'Zoom film' that utilizes its constraints to craft an intimate, expressive two-hander, no fatigue in sight". The film had its debut at the
71st Berlin International Film Festival in March 2021 to positive reviews, and was released in September 2021. ==Personal life==