McGowan made her film debut in the comedy "Encino Man" (1992), wherein she played a small role. Her performance as Amy Blue in Gregg Araki's dark comedy "The Doom Generation" (1995) brought her wider attention, and she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance. McGowan appeared as Tatum Riley in the horror film "Scream" (1996) and starred alongside Ben Affleck in the coming-of-age feature "Going All the Way" (1997). She appeared in several Hollywood films, including "Devil in the Flesh" (1998), "Jawbreaker" (1999), "Ready to Rumble" (2000), "Monkeybone" (2001), and "The Black Dahlia" (2006). McGowan played Ann-Margret, alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley, in the CBS miniseries "Elvis" (2005). She starred in "Planet Terror" (2007) and had a supporting role in "Death Proof" (2007), both part of the double-feature film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, "Grindhouse". Next, she starred in the crime thriller film "Fifty Dead Men Walking" (2008).