Dorothy Stratten was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was the oldest child of Nelly and Simon Hoogstraten who divorced in 1963. Her mother raised Dorothy and her siblings on her own, often struggling to make ends meet. At age fourteen, Dorothy took a job at the local Dairy Queen to help with expenses at home. Dorothy's high school teachers and friends at Coquitlam's Centennial High School recalled her as a good student, rather pretty but tall, quiet, and very shy.

In January of 1978, Dorothy Stratten met and began dating her future husband, Paul Snider. Later that year, Snider encouraged Dorothy to compete in the Playboy nationwide search for the magazine's 25th Anniversary Playmate. The recent high school graduate posed for a local photographer willing to chance earning the $1,000.00 finder's fee. The photos interested Playboy magazine publishers. The magazine flew Stratten to Los Angeles for further professional test shots, and she stayed for several weeks at the Playboy Mansion. While the magazine selected Candy Love as the twenty-fifth Anniversary Playmate, Stratten was their second choice, and her modeling career was launched. She was chosen Miss August 1979. She and Paul Snider married in June of that year at the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. In November, Stratten won the 1980 Playmate of the Year honors.

The fame and connections Stratten earned as a Playboy model won her acting roles in minor films like Skatetown, U.S.A., Galaxina and Americathon. Film director Peter Bogdanovich became romantically involved with Stratten in 1979. He offered her a part in the film They All Laughed, starring Audrey Hepburn and Ben Gazarra. Stratten flew to New York alone for the filming. Snider was frustrated and suspicious. Upon her return, she and Snider separated. Shortly afterward, he talked Stratten into their former apartment, tied her up, sexually assaulted her, and killed her. He then committed suicide.