Marcil acted in a number of theatre productions before landing the role of
Brenda Barrett on the soap opera,
General Hospital, in 1992. She garnered three
Daytime Emmy Award nominations (in 1997, 1998, and 2003) for her portrayal, and she won in 2003 as
Outstanding Supporting Actress. In February 1998, she was named Outstanding Lead Actress at the
Soap Opera Digest Awards. On June 14, 1993, she appeared in the
Prince music video "Poorgoo,” which was officially released in very limited numbers. In 1994, she was cast in the Prince music video "
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", and she also made
People's 50 Most Beautiful list the next year. She made her feature-film debut in the film,
The Rock (1996), in which she appeared opposite
Nicolas Cage,
Sean Connery, and
Ed Harris. In 1998, after six years on
General Hospital, she left the show to star in the made-for-television movie,
To Love, Honor and Deceive and had a recurring guest role on the police drama
High Incident, which was produced by
Steven Spielberg. In November 1998, Marcil joined the
Beverly Hills, 90210 cast as
Gina Kincaid and remained with the show for one-and-a-half seasons. In 1999, she starred in two independent films:
Nice Guys Sleep Alone, with
Sean O'Bryan, and
This Space Between Us, with
Jeremy Sisto. In 2001, she was initially cast to join
NYPD Blues ninth season as a new series regular, Detective Carmen Olivera. However, after her first appearance in "Johnny Got His Gold,” the show decided to redo the role and replaced Marcil with
Jacqueline Obradors, as Detective Rita Ortiz. Marcil made one more cameo appearance, as Detective Olivera, in the 11th-season episode, "Shear Stupidity.” From 2002 to 2003, she returned to
General Hospital, as Brenda Barrett, garnering her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2003. Vanessa later joined the cast of the
NBC drama
Las Vegas as Sam Marquez, a casino host, where she remained on the show for five seasons until 2008. That same year, she became the host of
Lifetime's reality show
Blush: The Search for the Next Great Makeup Artist, as well as making a three-episode guest appearance on the NBC show
Lipstick Jungle. In 2009, she starred in the
Hallmark Channel movie
The Nanny Express and in the Lifetime movie,
One Hot Summer. In 2010, she was in the web series
The Bannen Way, and in August 2010, after a seven-year absence, she made her return to
General Hospital, remaining on the show for a year before her departure from the daytime series in July 2011. Marcil did reprise her role by making a guest appearance in April 2013, however, to commemorate the show's
50th anniversary. In 2014, she starred in the Hallmark channel movie,
Stranded in Paradise, and in 2015, she joined the cast of the
Pop reality series,
Queens of Drama, about the lives of former soap-opera actresses attempting to pitch a pilot for a television network. In 2016, she starred in her latest Hallmark channel movie,
The Convenient Groom. ==Personal life==