KaDee Strickland is hiding lots of ‘Secrets and Lies’

KaDee Strickland is making a big career jump onscreen. Known for playing Dr. Charlotte King for six years on “Private Practice,” she’s now appearing in the ten episode “Secrets and Lies” as Christy Crawford, a realtor and the wife of a man (Ryan Phillippe) who’s accused of killing a small child who begins to suspect her husband may be guilty. Just how different were the two experiences?

From Shondaland to ‘Secret’ land:

Everything about it from a creative standpoint is different for me, because I’ve always known my process. When I was in Shondaland, it was a beautiful experience that I had prior to motherhood so I knew how to do it. I’d done it for six beautiful years of my life. I love working with Shonda. It’s full on, it’s surprising at all times, and in a completely different way, I can say the same about this.

And about that career change:

You can’t get any further away from Charlotte than a real estate professional. I had gel nails, I never did that on “Private.” Eyelashes, gel nails, all this stuff, but it was also fun for me because you I would go in the neighborhoods around where we were and do the research and I looked at real estate agents and I actually pretended to be looking for a house and that was so different from delving into life and death surgery every day and that kind of stuff.

What was noticeable after she observed realtors:

The way they talked with their hands at times. The way they would stand, the way they would present a room and then walk away and come back with new information. And there were certain scenes where I would find myself just kind of doing my hands in a certain way, and it was like my personal shoutout to my research. Which was fun, because you gotta mix it up.

And the main similarity between the two projects:

I had the great Barbie Kligman [who wrote the show], and either way, I was working for two badass women.