She began her career starring in the CBS daytime soap opera Capitol from 1982 to 1987, before moving to prime time with a female leading role in the ABC comedy drama series Hooperman (1987–88).

Farentino had starring roles in a number of dramatic series in 1990s, include Equal Justice (1990–91), Earth 2 (1994–95), EZ Streets (1996–97) and Get Real (1999–2000).

Her other notable credits include 1993 comedy film Son of the Pink Panther, 1999 miniseries Storm of the Century, and well as Syfy comedy-drama Eureka (2006–2012).

Perhaps her most famous role was as Devon Adair in NBC's SciFi series Earth 2, the first female commander depicted in a science fiction work.

[3] Over the span of four decades, she has guest starred in many television programs, including NYPD Blue (1994), the revival of The Outer Limits (1996), JAG (2002), CSI: Miami (2003), and Hawaii Five-0 (2011).