Oxenberg made her acting debut in the 1982 made-for-television film The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana, in which she played her real-life distant relative Princess Diana. In 1984 Oxenberg joined the hit ABC prime time soap opera Dynasty — then at its height of popularity — in the role of Amanda Carrington, the second daughter of Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) and Alexis Colby (Joan Collins). Oxenberg was the guest host on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live on May 10, 1986, becoming the first (and so far only) royal figure to host the series. She left Dynasty in 1986 and the role was recast.

Oxenberg starred in The Lair of the White Worm in 1988, and reprised the role of Princess Diana in the TV film Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After in 1992. From 1993 to 1994 she starred in the short-lived series Acapulco H.E.A.T..

Oxenberg was portrayed by Rachael Taylor in the 2005 telemovie Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictiona