Katherine Dee Strickland (born December 14, 1975) is an American actress. From 2007 to 2013, she played Charlotte King on the ABC drama Private Practice (2007–2013).
Strickland began acting during high school. She studied acting in Philadelphia and New York City, where she obtained mostly small roles in film, television, and stage projects, among them The Sixth Sense (1999). Her participation in the 2003 Hollywood films Anything Else and Something's Gotta Give led to her receiving significant parts in the 2004 horror films Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid and The Grudge. She was then referred to as "the pride of Patterson" and the horror genre's "newest scream queen", though her performances in both films received mixed critical reviews. In 2005, she garnered positive critical reviews for the romantic comedy Fever Pitch, and she was a regular on the television show The Wedding Bells in 2007. She was subsequently added to the cast of Private Practice.
Strickland has spoken against the emphasis placed on beauty in the Los Angeles acting community, in which she says her Southern U.S. background has helped to distinguish herself from other blonde actresses. She has spoken of an affinity for her strong female characters and a desire to avoid sexualizing or sensationalizing her self-presentation as a woman. She has also worked closely with RAINN after participating in a storyline in which her Private Practice character was raped.
Early life
Katherine Dee Strickland was born in Blackshear, Georgia, on December 14, 1975, to Susan, a nurse, and Dee Strickland, a high school football coach, principal, and superintendent. Her nickname comes from her parents combining the "K" in her first name with her father's name (and also her middle name) to make "KaDee". She was raised in Patterson, Georgia, which she referred to as a "one-stoplight town", and she had a job picking tobacco on a local farm for eight years. When she was a child, Strickland watched the Woody Allen film Annie Hall (1975) and was "wanting to be in that place, and being completely taken with the energy of those people wanted to be in it". During her childhood, she was well known locally as a member of the Strickland family and for her extracurricular activities and achievements; she was the Homecoming Queen in elementary, middle, and high school, as well as the student council president and a cheerleader. She never considered a career in the arts until her participation in a one-act play performed by students of her high school: "The minute I set foot on stage, that was it. Destiny took over. There were no other options. I felt like I fit my skin, I knew what I was here to do."
After graduating from high school, Strickland wanted to study drama at college in New York City, but her parents did not want her to live in such a large city so soon. She instead applied to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. During her studies there, she joined the Screen Actors Guild and considered using her given name as the first part of her stage name, before deciding she was "much too tomboy" for it. She took a part-time job as a waitress at a local restaurant and interned at a casting agency, where one of her tasks was to read lines at auditions for small roles in local film and television projects; the job landed Strickland her first film role. After graduating from university with a fine arts degree, she was schooled in New York City, and she moved to Los Angeles in late 2003. In 2006, she received the University of the Arts's Silver Star Alumni Award.
