For her generation, Katie is considered among the most talented actresses, with the best chances of surviving the post-WB teenybopper years. With her strict upbringing, in the age of obsessed teenage celebrities, Katie playing an innocent young woman isn't much of a stretch. Her rise to fame coincided with the success of Dawson's Creek, where she plays the sweet and naļ¶„ Joey.
Katie is youngest of five children, with three older sisters and an older brother. She was born December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio. Her mother, Kathy, enrolled her in the Margaret O'Brien's Modeling School in Toledo, which ultimately led Katie to her present career. Katie was educated at the Notre Dame Academy, an all girls Catholic high school.
Katie got her start by attending a modeling convention in New York City. During the convention, a talent scout from Los Angeles approached Katie and encouraged her to spend the rest of the summer in California auditioning. Katie was off to Hollywood with her mother, despite her father's skepticism. It took Katie only one audition before she was cast in "The Ice Storm", as Tobey Maguire's girlfriend.
Katie got her big break when she was immediately cast in the Dawson's Creek series that received rave reviews, even before its premiere. With the success of Dawson's Creek and its popularity among teens, Katie was then cast in the thriller "Disturbing Behavior" in 1998, and the following summer, two feature films, "Go", and as the heroine in "Teaching Mrs. Tingle".
Katie graduated from Notre Dame Academy in June of 1997 and began filming "Dawson's Creek" later that summer. She has deferred admission to Columbia University. She currently lives in Wilmington, NC, where she has just bought a house. Katie has certainly come a long way from dreaming about Hollywood in front of her TV set, and it is a safe bet that she has an exciting, successful, and interesting career ahead of her. As Katie herself remarked in A Fanatic's Guide to Dawson's Creek, It's overwhelming yesterday I was just your average kid from Toledo. Now I have my own web site." |
