McManus, a Warwick, Rhode Island, native, daughter of James "Jim" and Patricia McManus of Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island, graduated from Fordham University, attended NYU's graduate acting program before leaving to pursue her career in Los Angeles. In 2008, she joined the cast of One Tree Hill during its fifth season, playing Lucas Scott's (Chad Michael Murray) love interest, Lindsey Strauss.
McManus married writer/producer Mike Daniels in July 2011. In December 2013, McManus announced that she was expecting their first child. The couple welcomed son Gabriel October Daniels in April 2014.
After completing her work on One Tree Hill she booked a guest role on the fifth season of CSI: NY. She was subsequently announced as joining the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Assistant District Attorney Kim Greylek, beginning with its tenth season premiere. She was abruptly written out of SVU in the Season 10 episode "Lead", in which ADA Alexandra Cabot returned. However, McManus continued to be credited in the main titles for the rest of the season. It was later confirmed by the producers that McManus would not be returning to the show. Since then, she has had guest roles in prime time shows Castle, CSI: Miami, The Vampire Diaries, Hawaii Five-0, and other films and/or television shows. She also appeared in the music video 'Glad You Came' by The Wanted. In 2012, she starred as Tara on NBC series Awake.
