She had lead roles in the films Halloween: Resurrection (2002), White Noise: The Light (2007), Batman: Year One (2011), The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013), Sexy Evil Genius (2013), Riddick (2013), Oculus (2013), and Don't Knock Twice (2016).

[3] She began swimming at an early age and by high school planned to pursue a career in the sport until her right knee was injured.

She made her motion picture debut in My First Mister, then appeared as Jenna "Jen" Danzig in Halloween: Resurrection.

Sackhoff's most widely known role is as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in the miniseries and follow-up TV series Battlestar Galactica, for which she won a Saturn Award in 2006 for Best Actress on Television.

"[6] Sackhoff said her performance was inspired by Linda Hamilton's portrayal of Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day: "I think that was the one character that I kind of looked to as far as body image and strength.

"[6] Sackhoff plays the female lead in the action/sci-fi film The Last Sentinel and the supernatural thriller White Noise: The Light.

Sackhoff provided the voice of a female marine in the video game Halo 3 and is featured in the viral marketing campaign for Resistance 2.

[15][16] In 2009, she appeared as herself in The Big Bang Theory episode "The Vengeance Formulation", being fantasized as Howard Wolowitz's dream girl.

From 2012 to 2017, Sackhoff co-starred as the lead female role in Longmire, an A&E/Netflix television series based on the novels by Craig Johnson.

[23] Sackhoff played Dahl, a mercenary hired to track down Vin Diesel's intergalactic convict character in Riddick.

[25] Sackhoff announced in April 2015 a new TV series project, Rain, which she wrote and is executive-producing through her Fly Free Productions.

[26] She also had a role in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops III, performing voice over and motion capture as Sarah Hall.

[28] In 2017, Sackhoff joined The CW series The Flash in the recurring role of villain Blacksmith for its fourth season, billed as a special guest star.

[32] Sackhoff and her Battlestar Galactica co-star Tricia Helfer co-founded the Acting Outlaws, a motorcycle-riding charity with which they have worked to raise awareness and funds for causes including the Gulf Restoration Network, the Humane Society, and the Red Cross amfAR.