Acting career
After beginning a career as a child model and actress in television commercials, Arngrim rose to fame as a child star in 1974, portraying Nellie Oleson in the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie. She originally auditioned for the part of Laura Ingalls, and later Mary Ingalls, but was instead cast in the role of antagonist Nellie Oleson. Arngrim played her for seven seasons, and her portrayal became a cultural reference and camp archetype for the spoiled "bad girl" throughout the 1970s.
Years later in one of her stand-up routines, Arngrim described playing Nellie on Little House on The Prairie as "like having PMS for seven years." In 2002, she was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Young Artist Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as a child actress on Little House. At the 2006 TV Land Awards Arngrim tied with Danielle Spencer (Dee on What's Happening!!) as the "Character Most in Need of a Time-Out" for her role as Nellie.
In addition to her work on Little House, Arngrim also recorded the 1977 comedy record album Heeere's Amy on Laff Records, where she impersonates President Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy. Her mother, who voiced the Kennedy children on the comedy albums of Vaughn Meader, also guest-starred on the album. After leaving Little House, Arngrim appeared in guest-starring roles on such television series as The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. She was also a frequent panelist on the short-lived NBC game show Match Game–Hollywood Squares Hour.
Starting in 2006, she developed a successful career on stage in France with her friend, author/director/comedian Patrick Loubatière. In 2017 in Pinehurst, North Carolina, she appeared as Emily Brent in Judson Theatre Company's production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
