Kari Samantha Wuhrer was born on April 28, 1967, in Brookfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Karin, a payroll officer and Andrew, a former police officer and car salesman. Kari has three siblings. Kari studied acting at age 13, and headed to New York City to do rounds of auditions. She was signed to the Ford's Model Talent Division and appeared in several commercials, most notably Clairol, as well as performing in theater productions. After a role in the film Fire with Fire (1986), she landed a job on MTV as a VJ and was a co-host of the show "Remote Control" (1987). Wuhrer snuck out of her family home as a teenager to sing in nightclubs; she was the youngest member of the band Freudian Slip. She studied drama at NYU and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England, with famed teacher Uta Hagen. Her biggest career break came when she was cast to play Maggie Beckett on the sci-fi series "Sliders" (1995) from 1997 to 2000. She was signed to a record deal by American Recordings impresario Rick Rubin, which eventually appeared on the small Del-Fi label; her debut album, "Shiny," produced the successful single "There's a Drug."