Her film breakthrough came when she starred as Val Kilmer's wife in the 2002 D. J. Caruso crime thriller, The Salton Sea. Following the moderate success of The Salton Sea, West was exposed to a wider market. This role helped her obtain the role of Robin in The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest, which was panned critically and deemed a major disappointment despite an all-star cast, including Rosario Dawson, Adam Garcia - as well a script penned by Jon Favreau.
Her next role was as Laura Chandler in the Emmy-nominated mini-series Mister Sterling (2003). From 2003-2004 she portrayed Dr. Jennifer Devlin (girlfriend of Mark Paul Gosselaar's John Clark character) in a recurring role on NYPD Blue. She played the wife of Michael Keaton in the 2005 horror film White Noise. She also played novice agent Holly Gribbs in the pilot of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2000. West more recent performances were in the film Canes (The Covenant), which also starred Edward Furlong and Michael Madsen, and as Tina Blake in the HBO series John From Cincinnati. In 2006, West played the lead character Tracy in the film The Last Trimester. In 2007 she played "Dr. Honey" in the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. In 2009, she starred as the object of a revenge seeking neighbor in the TV movie My Neighbor's Secret.