Soon the acting bug bit the young hopeful and she went on to study for three years in New York before landing her feature film debut with a role as an NBC tour guide in the 1997 film adaptation of Howard Stern's autobiography "Private Parts". That same year, Bibb's small screen appearances included guest roles on NBC's "Fired Up" and "Just Shoot Me" as well as her first regular starring role on television, replacing Susan Walters as the female lead of USA Network's New Orleans-set crime drama series "The Big Easy". After more guest appearances on "Something So Right" (ABC) and "Early Edition" (CBS), she had a featured starring role in a 1999 episode of the short-lived "Walker, Texas Ranger" spin-off "Sons of Thunder", playing a targeted young woman claiming to be the daughter of regular Butch (Alan Autry). Returning to features, she landed a supporting role in heartfelt independent comedy "This Space Between Us" and a starring turn alongside Devon Gummersall and Eion Bailey as a naive aspiring actress in L.A. in "The Young Unknowns" (both 1999). Following her newfound "Popular" fame, Bibb could be seen in the thriller "Skulls" (2000), starring fellow WBer Joshua Jackson as a Yale student who unknowingly joins a sinister secret society.