Bryant began her career as a fashion model, appearing in advertisements for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, and Victoria's Secret.

Bryant had her breakthrough after being cast by Denzel Washington in his biographical drama film Antwone Fisher (2002), in which she played a U.S. Navy sailor.

[5] Bryant would later reveal that she was conceived from a sexual assault against her mother, who was fifteen years old at the time of her birth, by an older adult male.

[7] After graduating from Westminster, Bryant was a gifted student and earned a scholarship to Yale University, where she studied for two years before dropping out to pursue a modeling career.

[8] Bryant's grandmother died during her freshman year at Yale, which made her lose interest in studying, saying "I lost my biggest cheerleader, my rock.

[17][18] She has appeared in pictorials for InStyle, Harper's Bazaar,[19] Paper, Vanity Fair, Vibe, Playboy, Stuff and Celebrity Skin.

[17] Early in her career, Bryant played a small role in Ill Al Skratch's music video for the song "I'll Take Her" (1994).

[20] After a small role in the action comedy Showtime (2002), she made her big breakthrough in Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher (2002).

[23] She portrayed Gina, Jessica Alba's character's best friend in the dance film Honey (2003), which grossed $65.3 million at the box office worldwide.

[26] In 2007, she had a minor part in the thriller film The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard,[27] followed by a leading role in the ensemble comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008).

[2] She had one of the main roles as Debbie Sullivan on the romantic comedy film About Last Night (2014) alongside Kevin Hart, Regina Hall and Michael Ealy.

[33] The following year, Bryant was cast in a recurring role on the sports drama series Ballers, playing a successful public defender and mother of a rising football star.

[36] On January 13, 2021, Deadline announced that Bryant and producer Samantha Taylor Pickett launched a production company, Hot Sauce, with a three-year deal at Sony Pictures.

magazine reported that Bryant was engaged to stuntman Dave Pope, who she met on the set of Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.