[2] Following her graduation from Mason City High School in 1995,[3] Tanna Frederick attended college at the University of Iowa where she double majored in theater and political science.

[citation needed] Frederick graduated in 1999 as valedictorian of her University of Iowa liberal arts class, and shortly thereafter moved to Los Angeles to follow what the actress has termed her "Joan of Arc calling"[3] which happened at the age of 7.

In Fall 2006, Frederick began work on Jaglom's Hollywood Dreams as "Margie Chizek," a young woman who is desperate to break into the film business.

The New York Times observed that Hollywood Dreams was "driven by Ms. Frederick's no-boundaries commitment to her broken character," and that she gave "a performance that [was as] startling as it [was] touching.

She also produced and starred in "Two Ways Home" which was endorsed by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) for its storyline involving a character overcoming stigma associated with bi-polar disorder.