Due to her father’s military profession, Swoosie had to relocate often during her childhood and lived in eight different states. On the experience, Swoosie says “I was always the new kid with this strange name." Swoosie attended the University of Southern California where she majored in drama. Afterward, she went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. It’s safe to say that Swoosie was always into acting and her passion for the profession manifested early in her childhood. Kurtz’s professional career began when she was only seventeen years old. Swoosie appeared on the American sitcom “The Donna Reed Show” for a televised episode during the fourth season of the long-running and popular show. Swoosie, along with her father, also appeared on the game show “To Tell the Truth” in 1962. Her father was the contestant and eighteen-year-old Swoosie came out to identify him at the end of the game by handing him his uniform jacket. She rose to prominence, portraying Gwen Landis in the play ‘Fifth of July,’ and this led her to earn Broadway’s “triple crown”; notably the ‘Tony’, the ‘Outer Critics Circle’ and the ‘Drama Desk’ awards.

In 1975, Swoosie was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Principal Role for her performance in “The Philanthropist” at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Illinois. In 1978 she was a part of the ensemble of Mary Tyler Moore’s series called Mary. This ensemble featured celebrities like David Letterman, who later on went on to become one of the most popular television hosts in American television history. Since then, Swoosie has appeared in many different television shows; received several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and, in 1990, was awarded an Emmy for her guest-starring performance on Carol Burnett's comedy series “Carol & Company”. Swoosie’s Broadway debut was the 1975 revival of ‘Ah, Wilderness!’. She later earned widespread recognition with the stage productions of ‘A History of the American Film’ and ‘Uncommon Women and Others.’ Starting from the late 1970s, Swoosie was also featured in several television movies, such as ‘Walking Through the Fire’ (1979), ‘Baja Oklahoma’ (1988), ‘The Image’ (1990), ‘And the Band Played On’ (1993), and ‘A Promise to Carolyn’ (1996). Swoosie made her big-screen film debut in the late 1970s when she appeared in such films as ‘Slap Shot’ (1977) and ‘Oliver's Story’ (1978). Later in her career, Swoosie Swoosie appeared in several major Hollywood productions including the 1983 Agatha Christie drama ‘Caribbean Mystery,' the 1988 historical drama ‘Dangerous Liaisons,’ the 1996 comedy ‘Citizen Ruth,’ the 1997 Jim Carrey-starrer blockbuster fantasy-comedy ‘Liar Liar,’ and the 1999 romantic teen-drama ‘Cruel Intentions.’