In 1998 she made her television debut in Casualty, however she made her big break in acting starring as Michelle Richardson in the British drama Skins. She was cast after casting Directors held auditions at her school and her drama Teacher suggested she go. Pearson appeared in the first two series of the successful E4 show, but like the rest of the "original" cast members, was written out of the following series in order to introduce a new generation of characters to the show. In addition to her appearances on the show's two series, Pearson can also be seen acting as her character in various segments located on the show's official website.

During a Skinscast, Pearson's Skins co-stars Nicholas Hoult, Mitch Hewer, and Joe Dempsie stated that she was a head girl at Colston's Girls' School, which she left in 2007.

In 2008 Pearson once again appeared in Casualty as a teenager called Karen, followed by her film debut in Tormented (2009) alongside her Skins co-star Larissa Wilson, in which Pearson plays a sadistic schoolgirl. The film went on to receive mostly positive reviews from critics for which Total Film dubbed it as "A slasher for the Skins generation".

Pearson returned to theatre starring in the Bristol Old Vic production "Suspension" in spring of 2009, and in autumn that year as a kidnapped teenager called Callie in New End Theatre's "Negative Space".

Most recently, she starred in the music video for The Wombats' single, "Greek Tragedy". The music video was released 15 January 2015.