Amanda Detmer made her debut in the TV-movie "Stolen Innocence" (CBS) in 1995. A local girl (the project was lensed in her native Chico), Detmer impressed with a featured role in the telepic, but resumed her education, earning her BA and later her MFA in theater. In 1998 she spent a summer on stage in Minneapolis and that same year lensed a starring role in the mystical independent drama "Last Seen".

Although she had by now completed her graduate degree at New York University and was in her late twenties, Detmer easily adapted to teen roles, possessing youthful looks and bubbly charm. 1999 saw the actress make her big screen debut playing Miss Minneapolis in the Minnesota beauty pageant-set comedy "Drop Dead Gorgeous". Television work in the NBC miniseries "To Serve and Protect" (NBC) and the very short-lived series "Ryan Caulfield: Year One" (Fox) put her among fictional police that same year. 5 Detmer made greater strides in 2000, with a featured role in the ensemble of the teen thriller "Final Destination". Playing Terry, the agreeable girlfriend of thickheaded jock Carter (Kerr Smith) offered her increased visibility and the chance to suffer what may be the most genuinely startling demise in the contemporary spate of teen scream films.

While her character would no doubt stay down, Detmer saw her profile continue to rise that year, starring as an understanding and upbeat teacher with a regular role on Don Roos' edgy comedy "M.Y.O.B." (NBC) and taking on a co-starring role alongside hot tickets Claire Forlani, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jason Biggs in Robert Iscove's college-set romantic comedy "Boys and Girls."