[4][5] After a two-year appearance on the soap opera Ryan's Hope,[1] Bernsen was cast as lawyer Arnold Becker on the Steven Bochco television series L.A. Law in 1986.

Bernsen appeared with British actor Bruce Payne in the films Kounterfeit and Aurora: Operation Intercept.

[12][13] Bernsen was also cast as prima donna third baseman Roger Dorn in the sports comedy Major League and appeared in both of the film's sequels.

He also had a recurring role as Captain Owen Sebring on the military drama[7] JAG and played a Republican senator in two episodes of The West Wing.

Bernsen appeared in 25 Hill, a film he produced, directed and wrote, which is centered on the All-American Soap Box Derby, and at one time was planning a baseball movie about zombies, called Three Strikes, You're Dead.

[17] He directed and starred in Carpool Guy, the company's first film; it was targeted at soap opera fans and released on DVD in 2005.

According to the book One Red Paperclip, in June 2006, Bernsen traded a role in the film Donna on Demand to Kyle MacDonald for a snow globe of the band KISS.

[19] In recent years, Bernsen focused on stories that explore aspects of Christian faith in today's world and how that can contribute to, but also tends to divide our common humanity.

[30][31] Pays and Bernsen moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York in 2019 where he now focuses on film and television projects that can be shot locally.