After bit parts in several comedy features, Fox gained notice in the unlikely but winning role of a fiercely devoted single mother who supports her child and herself by working as a stripper in the sci-fi blockbuster "Independence Day" (1996). She was well paired with the dashing Will Smith as her flyboy beau. This high-profile exposure opened the floodgates and work poured in. Feature leads followed in the black feminist-inflected actioner "Set It Off" (1996), as part of a quartet of femme bank robbers; the safe sex comedy "Booty Call" (1997) and a supporting role as Ms. B Haven, a moll of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze, in the highly touted sequel "Batman & Robin" (1997). Fox also landed the female lead in Arsenio Hall's sitcom comeback, "Arsenio" (ABC, 1997), which failed to attract viewers and was cancelled after a few airings. She faced a similar fate with her follow-up TV vehicle the Fox sitcom "Getting Personal" (1998). Although it debuted as a midseason replacement and managed to earn a fall renewal, the sitcom's poor showing in the ratings forced its cancellation in October after only a handful of episodes had aired.
Fox returned back to the big screen and was immediately cast alongside Halle Berry and Lela Rochon in "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" (1998), a feature film about the life and death of Frankie Lymon. She continued her work on the big screen and on television before picking up another television project. "City Of Angels" (2000), a television series that co-starred Fox as Dr. Lillian Price. In 2001, Fox was cast in "Little Secrets" and the following year she portrayed a WNBA star in the cross-dressing comedy "Juwanna Mann" (2002). After a role opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the dismal comedy "Boat Trip" (2002), Fox was cast in one of best and most visible roles to date, playing the hard-hitting Vernita Green, one of the cadre of assassins marked for retribution by The Bride (Uma Thurman) in writer-director Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (2003).
After a cameo appearance as herself in “Hair Show” (2004), an independently made beauty shop comedy trying to capitalize on the success of “Barbershop” (2002), Fox played the Fairy Lucinda who gives a young girl (Anne Hathaway) the gift—and eventual curse—of obedience at birth. She was next seen in two straight-to-video releases, “Getting Played” (2006), a romantic comedy about three women tired of men who try to ensnare a random target for fun, and “The Hard Corps” (2006), an action flick about a combat vet hired to protect a former boxing champion from an unscrupulous rap mogul. Meanwhile, Fox joined ten other celebrities as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC, 2005- ), a weekly competition that paired professional dancers with inexperienced celebrities, some of whom have two left feet. Fox impressed the judges with her combination of grace and sex appeal, earning respectable and improving scores—particularly for her Dorothy Dandridge-inspired Tango—during her first few weeks of competition.