Polo has guest-starred on many TV shows like The Practice, Felicity, Chicago Hope, Sports Night, Numb3rs, and Frasier. Polo's prime time debut was in TV 101. She also starred in the 1990 miniseries The Phantom of the Opera as Christine Daae. She played Detective Ash on the TV series Brimstone and became a regular cast member on the last season of Northern Exposure. She appeared in a recurring guest role in the sixth and seventh seasons of The West Wing playing the role of Helen Santos, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits). She has also hosted several ceremonies. Recently, she appeared on Fox's The Wedding Bells, portraying the wedding planner Jane Bell.
In February 2005, Polo appeared on the cover of, and posed nude in Playboy. The appearance was linked to the release of Meet the Fockers, with cover text that made similar plays on words such as “She's one hot Focker”. She was ranked #42 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002. She was also featured in InStyle. She also starred in the Lifetime Movie Network 2006 movie, Legacy of Fear.
In 2009, she starred in the feature film 2:13 and the Hallmark Channel TV movie Expecting a Miracle with Jason Priestley and Cheech Marin. She stars in Michael Stokes' 2009 film The Beacon.
Polo was in the 2009 television pilot for Washington Field. The show was about the National Capital Response Squad, a unit of the FBI composed of elite experts in different areas who travel around the world, responding to events that concern American interest.
In 2010, Polo reprised her role as Pam Focker in Little Fockers, the sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004). She appeared in the Lovecraftian horror film The Hole. She has also guest-starred as Mary Louise Graffe in Medium in episode 117, "It's a Wonderful Death" with Patricia Arquette and Sofia Vassilieva.
