Stansfield had her first TV roles in the television series Holby City and The Royal, and then made her West End Theatre debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of Daisy Pulls It Off.
Although having extensive theatre credits, Stansfield is most well known for her role of Veronica 'Ronnie' Clayton in the soap opera Coronation Street from 2005 until she left in 2006.
[3] In 2008 she starred as an English nurse called Louise in the Irish drama Whistleblower, documenting the exposure and disbarring of Michael Neary, screened in August.
She also guest starred in the fourth season of Showtime's show The Tudors as the Protestant martyr Anne Askew.
In 2020, Stansfield and Kate Dickie appeared in the music video for Sleaford Mods' previously unreleased song "Second".