She won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991, moved to New York in 1993 to study theatre in English, was discovered by an agent while working in a restaurant, and started acting in Hollywood almost immediately.

The following year, discovered by an agent while working as a waitress, and was immediately cast as the female lead in the 1994 science fiction film Stargate,[6] for which she received a Sci-fi Universe award.

Her television work includes Scheherazade in the Emmy-nominated ABC miniseries Arabian Nights to rave reviews, Jon Avnet's Uprising, and After the Storm .

In 2009–2010, Avital appeared in the FX TV show Damages, in a recurring role as the mistress to the husband of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close).

Avital has starred in Prisoners of War (aka Hatufim) (2009-2012) which the New York Times listed number one in its "Thirty Best International TV Shows of the Decade" (2019); it was later adapted to series Homeland (Showtime).