Ripa acquired her first major acting role as gothic teen turned suffering heroine Hayley Vaughan on the soap opera All My Children. While there, the character would become a popular fixture.
Later, Ripa was selected to work alongside Regis Philbin for the long-running talk show Live with Regis and Kelly. Ripa was on double duty, but the following year in 2002, Ripa left All My Children.
A few months before Ripa hosted Live, she appeared on a celebrity version of the Philbin Who Wants to be a Millionaire and walked away with $250,000.
In September 2003, she was back on double duty when she co-starred (with Faith Ford) on Hope & Faith, a situation comedy. She portrayed Faith Fairfield, a former soap star whose character is killed off and who moves in with (and subsequently wreaks havoc on) her sister Hope's family. Hope & Faith survived for three seasons before a ratings decline led to its cancellation.
In June 2004, Ripa agreed to continue as Live co-host for at least five more years, at a salary that the tabloid television show Extra reported was $8 million/year. In October 2006, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos, also an actor, were partnering with producers from Hope & Faith on a sitcom for The CW Television Network that would be loosely based on the couple's experiences as soap opera actors.
In April 2007, Ripa hosted the 2007 TV Land Awards. In May 2007, Ripa stated that she most likely is done with acting for the time being.
