Groothuizen rose to fame as a member of the Dutch Dance/Pop girl group Dolly Dots, which achieved popularity inside and outside the Netherlands, and scored hits between 1979 and 1988. After the split in 1988, Angela Groothuizen teamed up with Ruud Mulder, former guitarist of disco/funk-contemporaries Spargo, to record as “Angela & the Rude”.

In 1998 the Dots reunited for a one-off concert, which gave rise to a Dolly Dots musical. Love Me Just a Little Bit More played at The Chassé Theatre in Breda and around the Netherlands during 2004, and closed in early 2005. As result of renewed interest in the group after the musical, Warner Bros. Records released a Dolly Dots Greatest Hits compilation of the group as well as a DVD. In May 2007, they sold out Rotterdam Ahoy three nights in a row, and toured the country again in 2008.

Meanwhile, Groothuizen had begun a television career starting with an adaptation of Challenge Anneka for AVRO. Her contract expired in 2005 and was not renewed. Groothuizen has since moved to commercial television as a panel judge on talent show programs, particularly in Dutch X Factor since 2008. From 2010 until 2012 she was one of the first judges on the Dutch version of The Voice, The Voice of Holland. She is also active in musical theater; with her show Label (which includes, besides songs by Dutch writers, a number of songs by Leonard Cohen) she toured throughout the Netherlands in 2010.