Despite being the best baseball player at auditions, Shue failed to snag a part in "A League of Our Own" (1992) and briefly considered leaving the business rather than play another one-dimensional role. She finally smashed forever her wholesome girl next door image with her complex, blistering dramatic performance as Sera, an abused prostitute who becomes involved with a dissolute suicidal screenwriter (Nicolas Cage), in Mike Figgis' critically acclaimed "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995). Her rubber skirt-wearing hooker poured hard liquor down her cleavage and announced to potential clients, "You can f--- me in the ass. You can come in my face. Just keep it out of my hair. I just washed it." What would Marty McFly say to that? I'll have some fries with that shake, miss? In a part that most female thespians would have eaten--let alone crawled over--broken glass to get, Shue was a revelation, earning several critics' prizes, a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a well-deserved spot on the Hollywood A-list.

After "Vegas", Shue starred in five films in three years, in addition to becoming a mother for the first time. Although "The Trigger Effect" (1996), "The Saint" and "Palmetto" (both 1997) were pretty forgettable, she did get the opportunity to work with Woody Allen in "Deconstructing Harry" (1997, as yet another in a string of younger women enthralled by Allen) and to play a period courtesan in Des McAnuff's "Cousin Bette" (1998), based on the Honore Balzac novel. Her role as Parisian music hall sensation Jenny Cadine offered her for the first time as a singer, and she continued to stretch as "Molly" (1999), shedding her vixen image to play a simple soul who maintains her childlike innocence when a miraculous cure transforms her autism to genius. Unfortunately, most critics regarded "Molly" as shamelessly sentimental, a TV-drama dressed up as a feature instead of the next "Rain Man" (1988). She then found herself in Paul Verhoeven's special effects extravaganza, "The Hollow Man" (2000), playing a government scientist assisting Kevin Bacon in his research project to unlock the secret of invisibility. She was better served by the Oprah Winfrey-produced telepic "Amy & Isabelle" (2001) as an overprotective mother who sordid past is revealed to her daughter. She then appeared in a string of undistinguished roles before resurfacing as Robert DeNiro's love interest in the routine thriller "Hide and Seek" (2005).

Having proved she can act but with once-in-a-lifetime parts at a premium, Shue continued to face the burning issue most actresses do: finding a way to distinguish oneself in routine material.