Snodgress was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge then Northern Illinois University before leaving to pursue acting. Snodgress trained for the stage at the Goodman Theatre, in Chicago.
After a number of minor TV appearances, her film debut was an uncredited appearance in Easy Rider in 1969 and a credited appearance in 1970 in Rabbit, Run opposite James Caan.
Her next film, Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), earned her a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress and two Golden Globe wins, as Best Actress in a Comedy or a Musical (an odd category, given the dramatic nature of the film) and New Star of the Year - Actress. She left acting soon after to live with rock musician Neil Young and care for their son Zeke, who was born with cerebral palsy. She returned to acting in 1978 in The Fury.
According to Sylvester Stallone,
The first choice for Adrian (in the movie Rocky) was a girl named Carrie Snodgress, who I wanted badly because, at the time, I wanted Adrian's family to be Irish and Harvey Keitel would be the brother. She said there wasn't enough money in it (we were getting paid $360 before taxes), so I said “I'll give you my share, I truly want you.” She passed to do a part in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, which never happened for her.
Neil Young's song "A Man Needs a Maid" was inspired by Snodgress, featuring the lyric "I fell in love with the actress/she was playing a part that I could understand."[citation needed] The song "Motion Pictures" from On the Beach is also inspired by their relationship. She and Young split up about 1975.
Later she and film score composer Jack Nitzsche became lovers. In 1979, Nitzsche was charged with threatening to kill her after he barged into her home and beat her with a handgun. He pleaded guilty to threatening her and was fined and placed on three years' probation.
Her Broadway debut came in 1981 with A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking. She also appeared in All the Way Home, Oh! What a Lovely War, Caesar and Cleopatra, Tartuffe, The Balcony and The Boor (all at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago); and Curse of the Starving Class at the Tiffany Theatre (in Los Angeles). Other films include Murphy's Law, White Man's Burden, Pale Rider and Blue Sky.
She had been hospitalized in Los Angeles awaiting a liver transplant when she died of heart and liver failure. She was 58 years old.