Pays made her film debut in Oxford Blues (1984). She is known for her roles as Theora Jones in the movie and television series Max Headroom and as Christina "Tina" McGee in The Flash. Pays also had a guest role as Pheobe Green in episode "Fire" of The X-Files. Pays is an interior designer and hosts Fine Living's Breathing Room.

She played Christa Bruckner in the 1983 movie The Cold Room, Sarah in the 1985 miniseries A.D. and narrated the 1988 documentary Computer Dreams. She also appeared in the low-budget 80s horror film The Kindred and 1989's Leviathan.