Hines worked as a personal assistant to Rob Reiner when she moved to LA. Though Reiner did not play a critical role in her career, he would come watch her shows when she began acting. Hines moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career, and began by doing improvisational comedy at The Groundlings Theater. Among the people she studied with was Lisa Kudrow. She also learned to write comedy sketches, which served her well when working on Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO as Larry David's wife, Cheryl. The show is written as retroscripting in which the plot outlines are generally and loosely drawn and the individual characters improvise to create the dialogue.

“When the show first came out, people from Tallahassee thought, ‘Well, maybe Cheryl got married,’” she recalls of the show’s initial impact. “Sometimes, I do feel like I live two lives.”

In July 2006, Hines received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her w