She studied acting in Philadelphia and New York City, where she obtained mostly small roles in film, television, and stage projects, among them The Sixth Sense (1999).

She was then referred to as "the pride of Patterson"[1] and the horror genre's "newest scream queen",[2] though her performances in both films received mixed critical reviews.

Strickland has spoken against the emphasis placed on beauty in the Los Angeles acting community, in which she says her Southern U.S. background has helped to distinguish herself from other blonde actresses.

[1] During her childhood, she was well known locally as a member of the Strickland family and for her extracurricular activities and achievements; she was the Homecoming Queen in elementary, middle, and high school, as well as the student council president and a cheerleader.

[9] Strickland's career began in 1999 with a brief appearance at a funeral after-party in The Sixth Sense, a two-line part that she received after impressing writer-director M. Night Shyamalan when reading lines for those auditioning for the film.

[9] The same year, she served as an extra in the independent film The Sterling Chase, and appeared in a small role opposite Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie in James Mangold's drama Girl, Interrupted.

[11] After she moved to New York City, Strickland appeared in Adam Bhala Lough's filmmaking debut, Bomb the System, which received unenthusiastic notices from critics and was not shown outside film festivals until 2005.

[12] Concurrent to her film work, Strickland acquired stage experience in productions such as A Requiem for Things Past in mid-1999,[13] and John Patrick Shanley's Women of Manhattan.

[citation needed] She acted in a December 2002 episode of the television show Law & Order: Criminal Intent and made nine guest appearances on All My Children, which enabled her to leave her waitressing job.

[1] In 2003, Strickland was cast opposite Eddie Cibrian in the pilot episode for an uncommissioned small screen serial adaptation of John Grisham's novel The Street Lawyer.

The following year, she made brief appearances in the direct-to-cable independent film Knots and the poorly received satirical comedy The Stepford Wives with Nicole Kidman,[18] playing a partygoer and a game show contestant, respectively.

[2] Strickland played an accomplished research scientist who travels to Borneo as part of an expedition team searching for a species of plant rumored to have life-extending properties.

She said she initially did not want to follow a Woody Allen film with a "snake movie", but that she changed her mind because the hero was a female Southerner who was not "a complete idiot" or "a chick in shorts about to get whacked".

In Japanese director Takashi Shimizu's U.S. remake of his film Ju-on: The Grudge (2003), Strickland played (in a role originated by Misaki Ito) a Tokyo-based American businesswoman whose relatives emigrate from the U.S. Strickland received the role through a casting session with producer Sam Raimi, who picked her based on her work in footage for the then-unreleased Anacondas, and her willingness to work away from home for extended periods.

[28] Strickland's presence in The Grudge and Anacondas led horror fans to name her "[their] newest scream queen", but she said that when deciding what film to do next, she did not focus as much on genre as she did on good characters, scripts, and directors, which she said "don't come around that often.

[5] On the film's 2005 release, she received praise from PopMatters magazine, which described her as "irrepressible" in her role,[31] and from MSNBC, which said she and JoBeth Williams "sometimes rescue [the picture] from its plodding moments".

Strickland, whose co-stars in the pilot included Frances Fisher and Bruce McGill, said she was "really excited to have the opportunity to portray this phenomenal lady",[30] but the series was dropped from development a few months later.

[41] In late 2005, she joined the cast of The Flock, a crime drama featuring Richard Gere, Claire Danes and singer Avril Lavigne about a federal agent assigned to track down a missing girl and a paroled sex offender (played by Strickland).

[34][42] Strickland said it was important to participate in such a story because she felt members of society need to consider and be responsible for their views on the sex offender counterculture, which she says "[is] actually not counter at all, it's very real, very next door to you.

"[45] She joined the cast of the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, which began airing in September 2007;[46] and portrayed Charlotte King, chief of staff at the show's local hospital and a doctor specializing in urologic surgery, and later sexology.

Strickland called her life as an actress "a crazy existence" and "completely unstable" because of the frequency with which she has to look for new jobs, but she said she is "gonna be whole hog with it" and continue to act until her death.

[5][55] Strickland is a self-described "big fashionista" and "very concerned with looks", and has noted the need for "an element of vanity" in acting, particularly in Los Angeles, where she says she is "continually surrounded by super-human people" and has "never seen so much beauty".

[5] She has a very noticeable Southern American accent, which she says is an advantage for her because it is "the one thing" that film and casting directors like the sound of and "really gravitate toward", particularly in Los Angeles, which she called "a town full of blondes".