[5] When she was seven years old, Anderson's family relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles.

[5] Anderson's show-business career began when a dance teacher urged her parents to find an agent for her.

In 1976, Michael Landon asked Anderson if she would appear in his autobiographical film The Loneliest Runner.

This followed a successful visit to Spain in 1979 to appear as a guest on Televisión Española's program, 625 Lineas.

In 1981, she earned a Young Artist Award nomination for her performance in the Canadian slasher film Happy Birthday to Me.

[8] After leaving Little House, she continued acting in television series like The Equalizer, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, CHiPs, and Murder, She Wrote, and was the associate producer for the penultimate television project Michael Landon made before dying: Where Pigeons Go to Die (1990).

In 2014, Anderson had an uncredited appearance as Stosh's mother in the neo-noir mystery comedy drama film Veronica Mars (2014).