Ka Dee Strickland - Artistry and Image

Artistry and Image

Strickland has cited Jessica Lange, Holly Hunter, Diane Keaton (in Annie Hall), Ione Skye (her Fever Pitch co-star) and Jane Fonda as her inspirations and/or influences; for The Grudge, she mimicked Fonda's performance in Klute (1971) and her "brilliant way in that film of creating tension and fear for the audience just by walking down a hallway and looking over her shoulder." She noted the input of her acting coach, Maggie Flanagan, who instructed Strickland to watch films with the sound turned off to gauge the quality and comprehensibility of a performance, and who Strickland credits as her "Jedi Knight".

Strickland cites her work ethic and her "active imagination" as sources of inspiration when she is required to convey certain emotions, particularly negative ones. She said she does not practise method acting, but that actors can bring to a role elements that are, in her words, "an extension of life experience". According to her, she hopes to have her experience of growing up in an emotionally warm environment incorporated into her work. Strickland has spoken of her difficulty conveying different "versions" of emotions such as fear to different members of a worldwide film-watching audience, saying "what really kept me going was trying to communicate something universal." She said she is extremely flattered when people, particularly her fans, genuinely relate to her when her "version of storytelling" and work as an actress communicates to them. She said she believed she was "here" to act, and that she could not live without it: "It's my joy, it's what I love, and there's no feeling like being able to do what you love in life, and really fully doing it", she said. Strickland called her life as an actress "a crazy existence" and "completely unstable" because of the frequency with which she has to look for new jobs, but she said she is "gonna be whole hog with it" and continue to act until her death.

Strickland is a self-described "big fashionista" and "very concerned with looks", and she has noted the need for "an element of vanity" in acting, particularly in Los Angeles, where she says she is "continually surrounded by super-human people I've never seen so much beauty." According to her, she has never had to rely on her appearance or felt pressurised to be beautiful—"The truth is I'm not that girl", she said. With regard to sources such as magazines, Strickland said she is "very careful" about the way she wants to be presented as a woman, saying she strives to avoid "sensationalizing or sexualizing" herself. As she put it, she is not accustomed to being considered a "pretty girl" or "attractive by a standard that I've never felt that I was part of". Strickland has a very audible Southern American accent, which she says is an advantage for her because it is "the one thing" that film and casting directors like the sound of and "really gravitate toward", particularly in Los Angeles, which she called "a town full of blondes". According to her, she learned to speak without the accent at university, and because she does not want people to think she has no other skills, she uses it only when it is required or requested. Strickland is experienced in stage combat and said she "like to do physical stuff"; in an interview to discuss Anacondas, she said "if there was a Braveheart for women, I'd be all over it."