Bakke was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon,[1][2] and began her acting career in a Portland stage production of Years Ago at age 15.
After graduating in 1981 from Sunset High School,[2] near Beaverton, Oregon, she moved to Los Angeles to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
[3] During the 1995-96 television season, she was a regular cast member in the CBS horror series, American Gothic alongside Gary Cole.
She spent the following years playing guest star roles in episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NYPD Blue, The Mentalist, and Supernatural.
In 2015, she began appearing in the recurring role of Virginia in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera If Loving You Is Wrong.