This level of success resulted in Rhiana being auditioned for acting roles in commercials and, ultimately, a television show. On February 20, 1998, viewers tuning in to the medical drama Children's Hospital got their first introduction to Rhiana, and their first glimpse of her phenomenal talent.

Rhiana played Kelly, a young burn victim who had been injured when her uncle's fishing boat exploded. Kelly was recovering nicely and adjusting to her uncomfortable burn suit, but was very troubled over her future, including whether she would ever get to go to the beach again (a not-unreasonable thing for a pubescent girl to worry about). For the part, Rhiana wore prosthetic scars on her throat and hands, and squeezed into the constrictive suit worn by real burn patients. Wearing that suit gave Rhiana a taste of what real burn victims experience during recovery.

"When I first put it on," Rhiana told the Newcastle Herald, "I couldn't handle it because it was so tight on the skin. I got used to it over time, but I'm glad I didn't have to wear the head piece."

Rhiana played opposite Peter Whitford (Strictly Ballroom), who portrayed her surgical specialist. Her performance on the show was so impressive that it won her more auditions. The Liz Mullinar Casting agency liked her realistic portrayal so well that they auditioned her for a part on the soap opera Home and Away. Rhiana was recalled twice and made it to the final four actresses. Although she didn't win the part, it did open a door that would lead to work later.

Rhiana played Mercia, the eldest of the family's children. The film starred Steve Bastoni and Lisa Hensley. It was at this time that the acting bug bit her hard.

"It's so innocent and romantic," Rhiana said later of the film. "That was the turning point for me, that's when I knew I wanted to be an actress. I fell in love with it."

Shortly after Rhiana's arrival on the set, it was decided that her character needed more depth, and a major change was made. Her name was changed to Jack/Jackie, and the script was changed so that she would spend most of the film disguised as a boy. Rhiana promptly took to wearing masculine clothes both on and off the set, and emulating the walk and gestures of her male costars. She described her rule for herself as "no lips, no hips." Her performance was so convincing that many people had no idea the American boy on the screen was actually an Australian girl. And in fact, Rhiana had such an excellent grasp of American accents that, after a mere three days, it was clear that she didn't actually need further help from the dialect coach that had been brought in for her.

Rhiana forged many friendships on the Pitch Black set, most notably with the film's star, Vin Diesel, now a fixture of American action films. The two have remained firm friends, with Vin ensuring that she attended the Sydney premieres of his later movies and visiting with her whenever he was in the country.

"He's a gentle giant," Rhiana said of him. "He calls me his 'lil sis' and I can definitely say that he is so not intimidating. He's a very genuine person and I'm glad to have worked with him." (Vin, meanwhile, was deeply impressed by Rhiana's commitment to the film, and has called her "the most easygoing person on the set.")

In the wake of Pitch Black, Rhiana continued to audition for parts, and focused as well on school. Art and Music are her other passions, and she won a 1999 Junior School Art Award for her paintings, while also experimenting with musical composition. Parts were hard to come by for a young teen with a shaved head, so Rhiana needed to grow her hair back out before many auditions would open up again. She had fun playing with it as it grew out, dying it silver and purple at one point.

She also demonstrated her flair for comedy when she appeared on the Australian TV show Backberner, also in 2000, as "Kristy Taylor."

From there, in 2001, Rhiana was cast in another short film, Search. This was Hannah Hilliard's second film after her award-winning Blame, and was made using money from awards that Blame had won. Rhiana played May, a fifteen-year-old girl on a quest for a reunion with her biological father. Her fixation on the newly-married man she tracks down wreaks havoc upon his life. Search has been touring the film festivals, both throughout Australia and internationally, and has won high acclaim.

Of especial appeal to audiences was the way that May was the aggressor in the movie, taking charge and having a powerful impact upon the film's lead male (played by Peter Fenton). Rhiana had jokingly commented during the publicity tours for Pitch Black that she'd love to play an "evil" character. And while May was disruptive but definitely not evil, Rhiana was about to get her chance to play a genuine villain.

It was after Search wrapped that Rhiana won a role on Home and Away, some four years after her first auditions. In 2002 news began circulating among the Home and Away fan sites that a new character, a girl named Aimee, would be appearing on the show soon, played by Rhiana. Not much was known about Aimee except that she would apparently shake things up for a couple on the show, and many sites speculated -- wrongly -- that she was going to get between "Josh" and "Dani."

Rhiana's character, Aimee Cooper, debuted as a girl staying in the town's Drop-In Centre for street kids. Many of the starring characters volunteered there, including Noah Lawson, who recommended her as an employee for the town's diner. Aimee began working at the diner but almost immediately embarked upon a tempestuous relationship with a coworker, Alex. Their romance quickly went sour and resulted in her quitting the job. At that point Noah felt guilty for her circumstances, and he and his girlfriend Haylee tried to help her. But Aimee had become infatuated with Noah and wanted him for herself, and it soon became apparent to the audience that she would do anything to get him. The resulting drama had fans on the edges of their seats, before Aimee's intentions were finally unmasked and she fled town in humiliation.

The episodes aired from early June to mid-July 2002 in Australia. They have been making their way through other markets, including New Zealand and England.

The Australian spring of 2002 saw Rhiana appearing as a guest star in yet another TV show, this time in a prime-time crime drama, White Collar Blue. Her episode, which aired on October 14, 2002, had her playing Lilly Derwent, a teenage girl who was attacked by a serial killer but managed to escape him. Again Rhiana wowed audiences with her realism, as she depicted a girl struggling to communicate with the police through a Rohypnol haze, and later did a tearful scene in which the police talk her into helping bring her assailant to justice. White Collar Blue was a critical, but not commercial, success, winning numerous awards for writing and acting, and was canceled after its second season.

Despite Rhiana having Vin Diesel's backing and massive fan support, the studio decided that another actress would play Kyra.

However, perhaps in response to fan protests, the studio did decide that they wanted Rhiana to reprise her role in another medium, and she was cast in the anime tie-in to the film, providing the face and voice of Jack in that story. The anime, entitled The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, would be released on DVD on June 15, to coincide with the release of the movie.

In the meantime, Rhiana appeared in musician Ben Lee's music video "Running With Scissors," playing the role of a disinterested waitress who gets knocked over by Lee's exuberant offstage antics.

The 59-piece collection, entitled Chrysalis ("so named for the challenging transitional year from which [she has] so positively emerged," she told the Newcastle Herald), opened on January 17, 2004 at the gallery, as its first exhibition of the season. Rhiana's older brother Damien performed a poetry reading as part of opening events. The pieces ranged in price from $150 to $3,400 AU, and were described by gallery director Diana Middleby as abstract works that also contained figures, faces, fine drawing detail work, and the inclusion of exquisite decorative elements such as gold leaf.

The exhibition concluded on February 1, 2004, as an enormous success. It was the gallery's first solo artist exhibition, and the gallery had been kept open for it during a point in the year where normally they closed their doors. This paid off, however, because virtually every painting in the exhibition was purchased. The Rhiana Griffith Fan Club itself got involved, publicizing the exhibition online, resulting in inquiries from -- and sales to -- buyers outside of Australia.

Early April saw Rhiana returning to the catwalk for a charity showing of major designer Lisa Ho's work. In a radio interview not long afterward, Rhiana commented that going back to modeling for the show was rather like the "riding a bicycle" metaphor, but she is still far more comfortable with acting and getting to display more than mere physical beauty.

Shortly after Rhiana's 19th birthday, her second professional gallery show was announced. A Month in Kaos, a "representation of life's chaotic pace," opened in Sydney's Surry Hills Cafe 249 Art Gallery, running from May 1, 2004 to May 30, 2004.

A Whole New You turned out to be so clever that it was accepted into the 2004 Portland International Short-Short Film Festival (affectionately called PISS Fest) and made its world premiere there. Rhiana was back on the big screen again, and looking radiant. The film was one of the favorites of the festival, which was held on September 24 and 25. It is available for viewing on the New Film Media website, as well.

Rhiana, meanwhile, was in front of the cameras again, this time for a TV show. She had been cast as a guest star on the Australian medical drama All Saints, portraying Cindy, a young prostitute who was attacked by one of her clients. Her attack resulted in the ambulance team noticing that some of the girls working at the brothel were very young and probably underage, sparking an investigation. Rhiana wowed audiences with her mixture of tough cynicism and wounded vulnerability. The episode aired on October 12 in Australia.

Even as viewers were preparing to tune in to see Rhiana on the small screen, her portrait was back in action. Robyn Stanton-Werkhoven had entered it in the Portia Geach Memorial portraiture exhibition, and it was one of the entries chosen for display. On October 31, the exhibition hosted a talk called "Painting That Well-Known Face," in which Robyn and three other painters discussed their experiences and advice regarding painting celebrities. Along with the four painters, Rhiana spoke as well, giving her perspective as the subject of such a painting.

2005 opened spectacularly for Rhiana, as she and her older brother Damien launched a joint exhibition combining her paintings and his poetry. "Sibling Revelry" opened at the Tighes Hill Gallery on February 3, running through February 20. A limited edition book, collecting their works, was published to coincide with the show, and the siblings donated a share of the proceeds to UNICEF's fund for victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami.

The Tighes Hill Gallery's next exhibition was a Wearable Art festival featuring a variety of clothing designers, and Rhiana contributed a number of pieces to that show as well.