Deciding to actively pursue her dream, Phillips settled in L.A. and began landing small roles in films and on TV. Before she landed her breakthrough TV role, however, she landed in the spotlight by marrying singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen (although the marriage lasted but three years). Once established as a small screen player by the success of "Sisters", Phillips branched out into TV-movies, playing everything from one of the women in the life of a man undergoing a mid-life crisis in "Getting Up and Going Home" (Lifetime, 1992) to a woman who discovers her photographer-husband is actually a kidnapper and murderer in "A Vow to Kill" (USA Network, 1995). More recently, Phillips played an oceanographer racing against time to save the world in "Tidal Wave: No Escape" (ABC, 1997). Like many television players, she has had difficulty making the jump to features. While she landed the female lead opposite Chevy Chase in "Fletch Lives" (1989), the film was not a box-office hit. Phillips had only slightly better luck as a sex education teacher who had been the object of a Rick Moranis' fantasies when they were younger in "Big Bully" (1996).