Katherine Marie Heigl was born in Washington D.C, USA on the 24th November 1978 to parents Nancy and Paul. A short time afterwards, the Heigl family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut where Katherine was to spend the majority of her childhood.
The youngest member of her family, Katherine or "Katie" as she is known affectionately, has two elder siblings, John and Meg. Tragically, older brother Jason died when Katherine was young - an event that she cites as giving her a greater perspective and appreciation for life.
Katherine was first thrust into the limelight as a child model. An aunt, visiting the family in New Canaan, took a number of photographs of her niece, then aged 9 - in series of poses to advertise a hair care product she had invented. Upon returning to New York, with permission from Katherine's parents, she sent the photos to a number of modelling agencies. Within a few weeks Katherine had been signed to Wilhelmina, a renowned international modelling agency.
Almost immediately, she made her debut in a magazine advertisement, and soon followed this with an inaugural television appearance in a national commercial for Cheerios breakfast cereal. Following a number of commercials and modelling assignments for Sears and Lord & Taylor, Katherine made her big-screen debut in "That Night" (1992), which starred Juliette Lewis and C. Thomas Howell. It was then that she realised that acting rather than modelling was her passion.
In 1993, Katherine appeared in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed depression era drama "King Of The Hill" before landing her first leading role as a rebellious teenager alongside Gerard Depardieu in "My Father The Hero" (1994). During this time, Katherine continued to attend New Canaan High School, balancing her academic studies with work on films and modelling, which she undertook during holidays, vacations and weekends.
In 1995 she played Sarah Ryback in "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" with Steven Seagal - which represented her first 'action genre' film. Acting was now becoming a greater focus for Katherine - although she still modelled extensively, appearing regularly in magazines such as Seventeen. Television appearances on The Tonight Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien soon followed, before she took the lead role in Disney's "Wish Upon A Star" in 1996. It was during 1996 that Katherine's parents divorced, and following her graduation in 1997 she moved with her mother into a 4-bedroom house in Malibu Canyon, Los Angeles. This enabled Katherine to focus upon acting with the guidance and support of her mother, who now managed her career.
During 1997, Katherine portrayed Taffy Entwhistle, Rita Hayworth's stand-in, in the movie "Stand-ins" and was also cast as Princess Ilene in "Prince Valiant". Katherine also branched into television, co-starring with Peter Fonda in a re-working of the classic Shakespearian play "The Tempest" (1998) with an American Civil War theme. This saw her take-on the important role of Miranda Prosper, a young woman torn between the love for her father and that of a Union soldier.
"Bug Buster" (1998) and "Bride of Chucky" (1998) represented a venture into the horror genre for Katherine. However, more recently she has turned her attention back to television for the series "Roswell" (1999-Present), in which she portrays Isabel Evans. The show focuses on a group of aliens and their lives in Roswell, New Mexico. From evading the FBI, to their day-to-day interaction with humans, the show blends teen angst with sci-fi drama. Recently, Katherine has graced the covers of magazines such as TV Guide and Maxim and has been interviewed on "Later with Cynthia Garrett" and "The Craig Kilborn Show". As the popularity of "Roswell" has grown, so has Katherine's status, resulting in her role being expanded for the second season of the show.
Katherine also completed work on a new independent film, "100 Girls", in which she has a cameo role as Arlene the Competitive Tomboy. This film has already been released in several European countries and the majority of South America. It is due to premiere in the USA in mid-2001.
In-between filming episodes of "Roswell", Katherine found time to feature in another horror feature -"Valentine", which also stars David Boreanaz and Denise Richards. The film, which is based upon the 1996 novel by Tom Savage, was released on February 2nd 2001. Katherine plays Shelley, a medical student who meets a sudden demise.
There you go! |
