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"It's scary to be hot in Hollywood because that means you can also be cold. I had no temperature in this town until my one-two punch of Boogie Nights and Lost in Space," says Graham.
In Boogie Nights, she played a roller-skating teen nymph and in Lost in Space, she was the oldest daughter of the Space Family Robinson.
"Boogie Nights impressed a lot of industry people. Lost in Space introduced me to audiences. Before those two movies, more people knew me from magazine articles than they did from my film roles."
Those early roles included playing one of Kirk Cameron's dates on Growing Pains; the girl who won the hearts of both Corey Haim and Corey Feldman in License to Drive; a teenage junkie in Drugstore Cowboy; and a wayward nun on Twin Peaks.
When Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me opens on June 11, the world will know Graham, 29, as Felicity Shagwell, the go-go girl who goes so well with Mike Myers' libidinous British spy.
"Mike is absolutely amazing. One moment he can be totally crazy, entertaining everyone on the set. Then he can be totally focused and obsessive about the tiniest detail of his performance."
Graham's string of sex-kitten roles has alienated her from her parents. She was raised in a strict Irish Catholic family. Her mother is a school teacher who writes children's books and her father is an FBI agent.
"I was raised as a real goody-two-shoes. I was made to feel guilty about even thinking about sex. When I saw Harrison Ford kissing Karen Allen in Raiders of the Los Ark, I thought that was the height of romance.
"I had a crush on Michael Jackson. That shows you just how deluded I was about sex and romance."
Graham says acting was her refuge.
"I was so gangly and awkward as a teen and the real curse was that I was smart.
"Boys ignored me until I starred in License to Drive and then suddenly, the male student body thought I was attractive.
"My parents encouraged my acting ambitions as long as they thought it was just a fad, but when I went professional and some of my roles conflicted with their Catholic beliefs, we parted ways."
Her parents were particularly upset when, at 22, Graham had a very public nine-month affair with James Woods, who she met filming Diggstown.
"I dated a lot of older men until I went into therapy and discovered I was looking for a father figure. That's all behind me now."
Graham shares the Hollywood Hills mansion she bought recently with Edward Burns, the writer/director of The Brothers McMullen and She's the One.
"What Eddie and I have is unlike any love I've experienced in the past.
"We're always kissing. It's so romantic. I also like that he's so shy. I find that so sexy."
In August, Graham will star opposite Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin in Bowfinger.
"I play this really sweet girl who wants so desperately to become an actress that she basically sleeps her way into roles."
In Alien Triangle, she plays a "bald, green alien whose husband is living in the body of Courteney Cox.
"I love the fact I'm getting offered such wild roles. There was a time all I ever got sent were scripts Drew Barrymore turned down.
"That was the reason I jumped at the chance to play her in the movie-within-a-movie in Scream 2. That was my idea of a great in-joke."
Graham thought the producers of The Spy Who Shagged Me were joking when they asked if she was interested in keeping her wardrobe from the film.
"I loved wearing those insane fringed vests, go-go boots and mini-skirts, but I'd never be seen in them in public.
"There are designers who actually think The Spy Who Shagged Me will help bring back those fashions. Heaven preserve us is all I can say."
Graham says Burns' young nephews weren't the least bit thrilled that she was their uncle's new girlfriend until they learned she was also Austin Powers' girlfriend.
"They're 9 and 7 and they imitate Mike all the time. I can empathize. Before I'd even seen the original Austin Powers movie, I was going around asking people: 'Do I make you horny, baby?' in my best Austin Powers voice."