Carly gained fame as Sam in the hit WB television series Popular, which earned her a 2000 Teen Choice Award nomination. She won the Leo Award (the Canadian equivalent of the Emmy) for her performance in the dramatic 2004 series The Collector.

Carly, who has been featured in magazines including Cosmo Girl, Teen, and Maxim, also starred in the American telefilm This Time Around and the CBC miniseries Hemmingway vs. Callahan. She had major roles in the hit feature films Orange County starring Jack Black, Disturbing Behavior with Katie Holmes, Nickelodeon's Snow Day, and The Glass House featuring Diane Lane and was seen opposite Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey in the 2005 feature film 2 For The Money. More recently Carly could be seen in the lead role of the Lifetime original movie Recipe For A Perfect Christmas along with appearances in the NBC disaster mini-series 10.5: The Apocalypse and daring indie films like Itty Bitty Titty Comittee and Young People Fucking. With no less than six more indie films scheduled to open in 2008, fans can also look forward to catching Carly on the seventh season opener of the enormously popular Fox TV series 24.

Carly Pope has expressed in writing an interest in playing TORREY GRESHAM in West of 5.