She made her "JAG" debut on an 1996 episode as Lt. Diane Schonke, the love interest of lead character Harm (David James Elliott). After return engagements her character was tragically killed off, but Bell learned that "JAG" producer Don Bellasario was looking for a new regular female lead for the series and wrote Bellasario a letter, suggesting that it would be intirguing if the new character were the spitting image of Harm's lost love. Bellasario agreed and Bell joined the cast as a new character, Maj. Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie when the show switched networks from NBC to CBS in 1997. She parlayed her visibility and the show's mainstream popularity--especially with military supporters--into several magazine covers and roles in telepics, ultimately landing a high-profile movie role as the object of Jim Carrey's lust in the comedy "Bruce Almighty" (2003). When her co-star Elliott announced his attention to leave the show following its tenth season in 2004-2005, producers initially planned to reshape the series around Bell, but the network ultimately pulled the plug on the show.