She was named after her mother, Sally Kirkland (born Sarah Phinney), who was a fashion editor at Vogue and LIFE magazines, and was raised in Oklahoma.

[citation needed] Kirkland started out as a Vogue model and then studied at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen.

By 1964, Kirkland was deeply involved in the New York's avant-garde movement and was also an active drug user until an attempted suicide frightened her into cleaning up her life through yoga and painting.

Her television credits include guest-starring roles on Hawaii Five-O, Police Story, The Rookies, Three's Company, Kojak, Starsky & Hutch, Charlie's Angels and Falcon Crest.

(1990) opposite Michael Caine, and played supporting roles in films Revenge (1990), JFK (1991), The Player (1992), Gunmen (1994), Excess Baggage (1997) and EDtv (1999).

[19] She found better success on television, playing leading roles in a number of made-for-television movies, and starring in the syndicated soap opera Valley of the Dolls in 1994.

[21][22] In 2020, she starred in the Amazon release film Hope For The Holidays with Robert Lasardo, Doug Hutchison, Alex Cubis and George Stults.

[25] She is a gallery-shown painter[26] and a noted acting teacher whose students have included Sandra Bullock, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Dwight Yoakam, and Roseanne Barr, among others.