She appeared in several studentfilms, and later landed a role in an Off-Broadway play No Time Flat. DirectorAlan J. Levi was impressed by Bullock's performance and offered her a part inthe made-for-TV movie Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and theBionic Woman (1989). After filming the TV movie, Bullock stayed in Los Angeles and was castin a series of small roles in several independent films as well as in the leadrole of the short-lived NBC television version of the film Working Girl (1990).She later appeared in several films, such as Love Potion No. 9 (1992), TheThing Called Love (1993) and Fire on the Amazon (in which she agreed to appeartopless if the camera did not show that much; she covered herself with ducttape, which apparently was somewhat painful to remove
One of Bullock's first notable movieappearances was in the science-fiction/action movie Demolition Man (1993). Thismovie starred Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. This role then led to herbreak-through performance in Speed the following year. She became a high-levelmovie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of successes, including WhileYou Were Sleeping, replacing actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduledto star, and Miss Congeniality in 2000.
Bullock was selected as one of Peoplemagazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1996 and 1999, and was alsoranked #58 in Empire magazine's Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. She waspresented with the 2002 Raúl Juliá Award for Excellence for her efforts, as theexecutive producer of the sitcom George Lopez, in helping expand careeropenings for Hispanic talent in the media and entertainment industry. She alsomade several appearances on the show as Accident Amy, an accident-proneemployee at the factory Lopez's character manages. In 2002, she starredopposite Hugh Grant in the global hit Two Weeks Notice and in a lesser knownfilm Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.