Karen Grassle

Biography

Karen Grassle is an American actress who came to prominence as Caroline Ingalls on the NBC drama Little House on the Prairie. Born in Berkeley, California, she graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright Fellowship. Her stage career included a Broadway debut in The Gingham Dog and appearances in Butterflies Are Free and Cymbeline. She auditioned for and won the role of Caroline Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, a series that ran from 1974 to 1983. Later films include Harry's War (1981), Wyatt Earp (1994), Lasso (2017), and Not to Forget (2021). On television, she co-wrote and starred in Battered and appeared in Cocaine: One Man's Seduction and episodes of Hotel, Love Boat, and Murder She Wrote. She co-founded the Resource Theater Company in Santa Fe and received a 2008 award for her performance in Cabaret.