Her breakout role was on the ABC primetime soap opera Dirty Sexy Money as socialite Karen Darling, where she starred from 2007 to 2009.

Zea also has made many guest appearances on television, starred in a number of independent and made-for-television movies, and had recurring roles in The Shield, Hung, Californication, and The Unicorn.

Zea played lead character Mickey Holmes-Harris on the canceled-before-airing ABC dramedy series, Members Only, and starred in the 2016–2019 TBS sitcom The Detour.

Susan Lucci's daughter Liza Huber played the role from July 5, 1999, to November 8, 2000, and again, after Zea left the show.

Her next major role was on the ABC primetime soap opera/comedy-drama Dirty Sexy Money opposite Jill Clayburgh, Donald Sutherland and Peter Krause.

[5] She also had many guest-starring roles, on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Two and a Half Men, Without a Trace, Medium, Franklin & Bash, and Person of Interest.

[9] As lead actress, she co-starred alongside Sean Patrick Flanery in the 2011 independent thriller InSight, and in the Lifetime movie Burden of Evil (2012).

[10][11] In 2013, Zea starred in the major role of Dr. Claire Matthews, the estranged wife of a serial killer in the Fox drama series, The Following.

[15][16] On August 4, 2014, it was announced that Zea was cast as lead character in the straight-to-series ordered ABC primetime soap opera, Members Only.

[17] She plays the role of Mickey Holmes-Harris the "most well-educated and put-together member of the family that founded the country club around which the show is centered.

[20] On February 26, 2020, Zea began in the lead role of Eve Harris in the NBC apocalyptic drama series La Brea, written by David Appelbaum.