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Katherine Moennig is a star on the rise. As the daughter of a Broadway dancer and the renowned violin maker William
Moennig, she was raised around the arts. Her first stage appearance was in a Children's Theatre Workshop production of "Winnie
the Pooh" at age 10, and sparked Kate to write and direct an improvised version of "Pooh" with a friend, which the duo performed
at Philadelphia's Free Library. A bit of a tomboy, like many other girls her age, Kate's free time was spent climbing trees
and skateboarding with friends in the streets of Philly's Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.
After high school, Kate moved to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Just two months after
her graduation from AADA, she landed an apprenticeship at the prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival. During two seasons
with Williamstown, she acquired a wealth of experience working on shows such as Comedy of Art, The Theory of Total Blame,
Morning in the City, and in 2000, appeared in a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It that featured fellow-actress, cousin
Gwyneth Paltrow.
Kate's first commercial success came with the central role in the music video "Is Anybody Home?" which
was filmed in Toronto for the Canadian band Our Lady Peace in 1999, just months before she made her television series debut
as "Jake Pratt" on the WB's Young Americans, which would prove to be a defining role for her. She played Jacqueline Pratt,
a girl with a wealthy mother who is too absorbed in her own Broadway career to pay much attention to her daughter. As a result,
Jacqueline rebels and enrolls in the all-male boarding school Rawley Academy under the name "Jake Pratt." Kate's androgynous
appeal enabled her to pull off the challenging task of making "Jake," fit in with the other guys at Rawley -- and not only
did 'he' fit in, he caused some serious havoc for the character Hamilton Fleming (played by Ian Somerhalder), who developed
a crush on Jake (this was not Kate's first time playing a gender-bending role: she'd auditioned for the lead role in "Boys
Don't Cry," which eventually earned Hilary Swank an Oscar). Hamilton, whose father was the dean of Rawley Academy, was unaware
of Jake's secret. Naturally, this led to several awkward moments ("Oh my god, we're gay!") until Jake reveals her true identity
to Ham. The romance blossoms, but things still aren't easy for the pair -- their relationship roles aren't quite clear, because
Hamilton has trouble acquiescing his power as "the guy" to strong-willed, motorcycle-driving Jake. The dynamics of the Jake/Ham
romance were so appealing that many fans tuned into Young Americans just for that storyline, and the show gave Katherine the
exposure to pursue new work in film and TV. Young Americans ran for 8 episodes on the WB network in the summer of 2000.
Katherine's
newfound recognition led to smaller roles in The Shipping News and Peter's Sehr's film Love the Hard Way. In October 2001,
she returned to television with a guest lead as Cathy Moriarty's daughter "Melissa" on NBC's hit show Law and Order and recently
made a guest lead appearance on Law and Order: SVU in the episode "Fallacy" in April 2003. She has also appeared in a national
commercial for Fleet Bank and has completed filming on Loren Marsh's upcoming black comedy, Invitation to a Suicide. Her most
anticipated project, the Showtime series The L Word, which is a full-season drama about a group of lesbian friends in Los
Angeles, features Kate as the heartbreaking stud 'Shane' and is due out in early 2004.
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