Morgan has appeared in a number of film and TV productions, and may be best known for the role of Angie Baxter–Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children.

Morgan was the first African American to win the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Angie in 1989.

In film, her performance as Mozelle Batiste-Delacroix in Eve's Bayou (1997) earned critical acclaim and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.

In 1979, she received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Alex Haley's great-aunt Elizabeth Harvey on the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, and her guest-starring role as Curtis Jackson's ex-girlfriend turned prostitute on The White Shadow.

[citation needed] After leaving All My Children, Morgan played the role of Chantal Marshall on the NBC soap opera, Generations (replacing actress Sharon Brown) and remained with the show until it ended.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Morgan became a de facto symbol for the possibilities for black women as all of her soap opera roles involved her playing a successful doctor.

Morgan earned acclaim from movie critics for her portrayal of clairvoyant Mozelle Batiste Delacroix in director Kasi Lemmons' drama film Eve's Bayou (1997).

She later left soap operas and began her film career with roles in She's All That (1999), The Hurricane (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004), Coach Carter (2005), Relative Strangers (2006), and Color of the Cross (2006).

[8] From 2002 to 2003, Morgan played lead character Lora Gibson, opposite Lea Thompson, on the Lifetime drama series For the People.

[14][15] In November 2013, after All My Children was cancelled, Morgan was cast in Starz drama series, Power, opposite Omari Hardwick and Naturi Naughton.

In 2021, she was cast in the Lee Daniels prime time soap opera, Our Kind of People opposite Yaya DaCosta.

Jasmine Blu from TVfanatic wrote in her review: "Debbi Morgan, though, has always been a force, a legend who deserves every last bit of her flowers right here and now.