Before becoming a model to support her acting career, Guillory waited tables at a club. In an interview in 2000, she said about the experience "Supporting my acting habit with waitressing was probably the most useful thing I've done." During her time as a model, she studied acting at the New World School of the Arts and the Paris Conservatoire, also taking small television and film roles in "The Future Lasts a Long Time" (1996), "The Rules of Engagement" (1999), "Star! Star!" (1999), "Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)" (2000), "The 3 Kings" (2000), and "Two Days, Nine Lives" (2000). During this time, Guillory decided to go on with her acting career because "I was so scared of going to university and being with people my own age again, having been with that tiny little sect of girls in Norfolk whose daddies were farmers and politicians, who didn't trust me and didn't know where I was coming from".