Stringfield was a member of ER's original cast, but she quit the show during its third season, despite being contractually tied to appear in five.

Her family briefly relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, before settling in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where Stringfield grew up.

[2] She developed a penchant for acting while attending Klein High School, where she starred in various musicals and plays including Oklahoma, Mother Courage, and Fiddler on the Roof.

[3] During that time, she appeared in numerous off-Broadway productions and learned to control and alter her Texan accent with the help of a college speech teacher.

Stringfield's decision to quit reportedly angered the show's executive producer, John Wells, because she left just as Dr. Lewis got embroiled in a budding romance with Anthony Edwards' Dr. Mark Greene.

"[6] Stringfield's much publicized departure reportedly "sent a small shock wave through Hollywood"[7] and her exit episode in November 1996 attracted 37 million viewers, the biggest night of the season for the NBC network.

[8] Stringfield quit just as television executive Dick Robertson was closing a deal that guaranteed the ER cast millions in future earnings from sales to cable and syndication, meaning she effectively "walked away from a fortune.

"[9] Stringfield claims she was asked to reprise the role of Susan Lewis in ER several times, but turned each offer down.

During her second stint in ER, Stringfield's character was featured in a special 'crossover' with NBC's New York City based police drama, Third Watch, which aired in 2002.

She took roles in films such as 54 (1998) and Autumn in New York (2000) and appeared in the television movies Border Line (1999) — produced by her ER co-star Anthony Edwards — and Going Home (2000), in which she starred opposite Jason Robards.

In 2005, Stringfield was cast alongside Michael Michele, Blair Underwood, Esai Morales, Gary Cole and Catherine Bell in the pilot episode of the CBS drama Company Town (created by Elwood Reid; directed by Thomas Carter), playing Angie Amberson, a mother of teenagers and a whistle-blower on the investment firm where she works.

Stringfield also guest-starred on Law & Order in late 2008 as a ruthless court clerk and Michael Cutter's love interest.

She also played Mary Jane Porter, an old girlfriend of Larry David's who runs into and then goes on a date with him in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm that aired on October 11, 2009.

In the early 1990s Stringfield dated British businessman Paul Goldstein (chairman of Nevica skiwear) for nearly three years, but the pressures of a long-distance romance eventually ended the relationship.