Houston is an experienced actor, initially starring in a Navy recruiting film and then getting her "big break" in June 1989 with a part in The Hunt for Red October (where she played her sister ship Dallas). However, that summer and autumn were plagued with mishaps. In May, before getting involved with the film, a broken valve caused a depth excursion. However, the "depth excursion" was actually a full blown flooding incident that was not caused by a "broken valve." Houston was awarded the Battle "E" and engineering "E" in 1998 and Tactical "T"'s in 1999 and 2000.