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Strickland, raised in a strict Southern Baptist family, went into an acting career straight out of college. While still in her 20s, she made it to Broadway in "Status Quo Vadis" (1973), and went on to appear in other stage productions on and off-Broadway, but films and TV have been her bread and butter.
Strickland made her debut in both media in 1975. She has played strong supporting roles in several high profile films, including "The Drowning Pool" (1975), "Bound for Glory" (1976), "Norma Rae" (1978), as one of Sally Fields' pals, "Three of Hearts" (1993), "When a Man Loves a Woman" (1994) and "The American President" (1995).
Strickland has appeared in numerous TV-movies, from respected dramas like "My Father's House" (ABC, 1975), the Emmy-winning "The Gathering" (ABC, 1977) and "Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice" opposite Carol Burnett (CBS, 1982) to trashy disaster flicks like "Ski Lift to Death" (CBS, 1978). Strickland co-starred in the miniseries "Burden of Proof" (ABC, 1992) and "Barbara Taylor Bradford's 'Remember'" (NBC, 1993). She has also played recurring roles in a handful of series, notably as a lesbian nurse in "Heartbeat" (ABC, 1988), and as one of the townspeople in the first season of CBS' "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" (1993). Strickland has stayed busy in television with numerous guest roles including turns on "Murphy Brown", "Chicago Hope" (both CBS), "Providence", "ER" (both NBC) and "Melrose Place" (Fox).