On television, Banes had a regular roles as Doreen Morrison in The Trials of Rosie O'Neill starring Sharon Gless, and as Mayor Anita Massengil on the Fox comedy series Son of the Beach (2000-01). She also had recurring roles on The King of Queens as Carrie's boss Georgia Boone, Six Feet Under as Victoria on One Life to Live as Eve McBain, and on Nashville (2012 TV series) Season 6 as the Ranch Director. She also guest starred as a Trill Doctor in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Equilibrium". Banes played Anne Kane in the 1985 TV miniseries Kane & Abel. Her other television credits include China Beach, Murder, She Wrote, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Desperate Housewives, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Wife, NCIS, and Once Upon a Time. From 2010 to 2016, she had a recurring role as Ellen Collins on Royal Pains.