Mendes caught the eye of an agent who convinced her to pursue acting more steadily. She appeared in Will Smith's video "Miami" and the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That’s the way life is)" in 1996 and Aerosmith's video "Hole in My Soul" in 1997, to guest roles in soap operas and supporting film roles. Her first film appearance was in the direct-to-video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror.
