After some experience at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, Lowell opted out of modeling. She played unnoticed roles in small films such as "Dangerously Close" and "Club Paradise" (both 1986) and "Downtwisted" (1987) and met future husband Griffin Dunne while shooting the 1988 sex comedy "Me and Him" ("Me" being Dunne and "Him" being his private parts). But Lowell's big break came the following year, when she was cast as Pam Bouvier, the tough, confrontational CIA agent who makes life interesting for Timothy Dalton's James Bond in "Licence to Kill" (1989).
A leading role followed, in William Friedkin's silly 'killer nanny from Hell' flick "The Guardian" (1990, in which Lowell and Dwier Brown hire Jenny Seagrove, who turns out to be a tree-worshipping demon). Stardom did not follow, and her next film--appropriately titled "Road to Ruin" (1992)--was a romantic comedy that sank without a trace. Her subsequent feature, Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), was a box office hit, but her role as Tom Hanks' deceased wife was nothing more than a cameo. Lowell, who had returned to modeling (for Revlon), went on to play small roles in the big-budget Warren Beatty-Annette Bening vehicle "Love Affair" (1994) and in Mike Figgis' acclaimed low-budget "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995). In the latter, she played a bank teller who clashes with a hung-over Nicolas Cage. Lowell was also in the 1995 short drama "The Duke of Groove" (directed by Dunne; their separation shortly thereafter was presumably unrelated to the film). She also appeared in the British comedy "Fierce Creatures" (1997), directed by John Cleese and featuring Kevin Kline, Michael Palin and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Lowell's TV exposure has been limited. She starred as Dottie (the role originated by Geena Davis on the big screen) in the short-lived comedy series "A League of Their Own" (CBS, 1993). Lowell spent two seasons (1996-98) as an assistant district attorney on NBC's award-winning "Law & Order" and returned to television in 2001 as an attorney on the short-lived series "Big Apple." In between projects Lowell was most visible as the longtime companion of actor Richard Gere; after seven years and one child together, the couple finally tied the knot in 2002.