After Procter moved to Los Angeles, her father provided the funds for acting school for two years. Before even graduating, she had already landed a number of small roles in films such as Cameron Crowe's sports romantic comedy-drama "Jerry Maguire" (1996) and co-starred with David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper in the TV movie "Breast Men" (1997). In 1996, Procter guest-starred in the ABC superhero drama ', where she played Lana Lang. She briefly appeared in the TV movie ' (1997) as Mavis. She also appeared in the drama "Body Shots" (1999) as Whitney Bryant.