Upon her return to the United States, Garbiras understudied the roles of Josie Hines (played by Suzanne Cryer) and Sammii (played by Tony Award-winning actress Katie Finneran) in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Proposals at the Broadhurst Theatre, New York which ran from November 6, 1997 to January 11, 1998.
[2] Garbiras has also appeared in the French-language Swiss film Fin de Siècle playing the part of Alison, in New York documentary filmmaker Alison Swan's dramatic feature debut Mixing Nia which was shown at the 1998 New York Film Festival, and in Emily Baer's Guy's Guide to Marrying Money.
She also appeared in the pilot episodes of NBC's Cold Feet and Fox's Traffic and The Only Living Boy in New York—none of which were picked up as a series.
She appeared as idealistic schoolteacher and later, best-selling author Beth Greenaway on Leap Years for the cable station Showtime in 2001 and later, in what is perhaps her most successful role, reporter Andrea Little on NBC/DreamWorks’ series Boomtown in 2002-3.
In addition to her roles in the opera La traviata and the musical Jesus Christ Superstar mentioned above, Garbiras sang with AOR group The Paul Godfrey Band in the late 1980s.
New York Magazine commented that the character could be the first print journalist in a decade to be portrayed in prime-time television as having principles and decency.
[7] Garbiras was listed fourth in Netscape Celebrity's March 2005 ranking of "Top 10 Gutsy Gals" beating out better known TV actresses like Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jacqueline Obradors (NYPD Blue), amongst others.
In August 2008 Garbiras told New York's Daily News that she had chosen the location of her store "to be close to the artists who live and create here.