She is best known for her roles as Sabrina Collins on the FOX sitcom Raising Hope (2010–2014), Elsie Hughes on the HBO science-fiction thriller series Westworld (2016–2018), and the voice and motion capture of Dina in the video game The Last of Us Part II, for which she received a BAFTA Award for Performer in a Supporting Role nomination at the 17th British Academy Games Awards.

[citation needed] Woodward's first on-screen acting job came in 1991 when she played the occasionally recurring role of Missy on Nickelodeon's television series Clarissa Explains It All.

Woodward's big-screen debut came in 2005, when she played Emma Sharp, the daughter of a Texas Ranger assigned to protect a group of cheerleaders who witnessed a murder, in the action comedy Man of the House.

Woodward shot the 2009 pilot Limelight, about a New York City school for performing arts, but the series was not picked up.

From September 2010 to April 2014, Woodward had a starring role in the FOX sitcom Raising Hope, playing Sabrina Collins, a grocery store checkout clerk who is the love interest of the series lead.