In 2000, Perabo was cast in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle as lead character FBI agent Karen Sympathy. Her following role in Coyote Ugly brought her into the public eye. She played the role of Violet Sanford, a.k.a. "Jersey," a young woman who moves to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter. She had to take lessons in voice, guitar, piano and bartending to prepare for the role. Despite poor reviews, the film was a modest box-office success and she won an MTV Movie Award for Best Music Moment for "One Way or Another."

In 2001, Perabo starred in an independent Canadian movie called Lost and Delirious, playing a boarding school student who falls in love with a female classmate. The next year she starred as a French exchange student in Slap Her... She's French, which was shelved in North America for two years, then released under the new title She Gets What She Wants. The film was released under its original title in Europe. In 2003, she had a role as the el