On the big screen, Pope debuted in David Nutter's 1998 feature "Disturbing Behavior", a disappointing teen thriller boasting a cast filled with a veritable who's who of upcoming young talent. She could next be seen in the direct-to-video children's feature "Aliens in the Wild Wild West" (1999). More notable was the actress' television work, beginning with a 1998 appearance in the NBC movie "I've Been Waiting For You". While her role in that production was small enough to not even warrant her a real character name (credited simply as 'Cheerleader'), she would soon land a significant and memorable part in the troubling fact-based telefilm "Our Guys: Outrage in Glen Ridge" (ABC, 1999), playing Mari Ferrarez, a young woman who opportunistically befriends a mentally-challenged rape victim (Heather Matarazzo) in order to sway her testimony and protect the popular group of high school athletes accused of the heinous crime. Later that year she had a featured role in Showtime's "A Cooler Climate", playing the daughter of a couple in marital crisis. Pope was next featured as Molly in the ABC movie "Purple Haze" (2000), a cautionary tale starring Jonathan Jackson as a young man who follows the lead of his charismatic girlfriend (Pope) and succumbs to drug addiction.