2003–2010: Breakthrough and television work
VanCamp's breakthrough came at age 15 when she was cast as Sam Dolan, a series regular role, in the WB mid-season show Glory Days (known in Europe as Demontown), the third TV series from Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson. The horror mystery received mildly positive reviews, but was a ratings disappointment and was cancelled after nine episodes. VanCamp's performance as the lead character's younger sister caught the eye of former Dawson's Creek writer Greg Berlanti. Her performance reminded him of Katie Holmes, and he "desperately wanted to work with her". He cast her in his forthcoming first show, Everwood, also for the WB. VanCamp played Amy, Dr. Abbott's daughter, who immediately forms a friendship with Dr. Brown's son Ephram, played by Gregory Smith. A significant portion of the show was devoted to the relationships between the two families, and in particular to Amy and Ephram. She gained a certain amount of recognition for the role, in which her character was confronted with drugs, depression, and an alienation from her family, receiving four Teen Choice Awards nominations and one Young Artist Awards nomination during the course of the show's run.
While on breaks from Everwood, VanCamp starred in a few film projects, including the thrillers No Good Deed and A Different Loyalty, as well as Rings, a horror short film that bridges the events between The Ring and The Ring Two, and ties directly into her appearance in the opening scene of the second film.
VanCamp filmed the post-apocalyptic horror film Carriers in the summer of 2006, which was not released until 2009. Early 2007 had the broadcast of a season-eight Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode, in which her drug-addict character Charlotte Truex cannot recall her actions on the night her mother was murdered, and the premiere of the independent drama Black Irish, where her character Kathleen McKay, the sister of lead actor Michael Angarano's character Cole, has to deal with teenage pregnancy.
VanCamp's next big role came at age 20 when Everwood creator Greg Berlanti cast her as a regular midway into the first season of the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters, which he was showrunning, offering her the part directly. The Jon Robin Baitz–created series chronicles the lives of the Walkers, a wealthy family who owns a food company. After their patriarch dies, it is revealed he has a secret child from a long-standing affair. Initially, it was believed that Rebecca Harper, played by VanCamp, is the secret child, but this was proven otherwise later in the series.
VanCamp remained a regular on Brothers & Sisters during the show's first four seasons and returned as a guest for a few episodes in the fifth and final season to wrap up her character's storyline. While working on the show, she found the time to star in the independent drama Norman in mid-2008, which earned her awards from the San Diego Film Festival and the Breckenridge Festival of Film, her only wins to date. The film has her playing the girlfriend of main character Norman Long, played by Dan Byrd, who pretends he is dying of cancer. VanCamp also starred in the two-part TV film Ben Hur, the latest adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel, in which she played Ben-Hur's wife Esther.
