Katie Holmes
Thursday, September 25, 2008Katie Holmes was fresh out of a wholesome Midwestern high school existence when she became an overnight sensation in the WB’s anchor teen drama “Dawson’s Creek” (1998-2003). Her real life naiveté and lack of pretension lent a quality of realism to the smartly scripted small town chronicle, which was a much-needed shift away from the previous wave of TV high schools populated by wealthy, Southern California fashionistas. Down-to-earth Holmes and her naturalistic acting style were an integral factor in the success and six year-run of “Dawson’s Creek,” but the actress’s transition to the big screen was not so seamless....
Full Bio , Awards & Milestones
Filmography
Wonder Woman - ( - Cast / 2005 / Announced / )
Mad Money - ( Jackie Truman / 2008 / Released / )
Thank You for Smoking - ( Heather Holloway / 2006 / Released / Haut et Court )
Batman Begins - ( Rachel Dawes / 2005 / Released / )
First Daughter - ( Samantha / 2004 / Released / )
Phone Booth - ( Pamela McFadden / 2003 / Released / )
Pieces of April - ( April Burns / 2003 / Released / )
The Singing Detective - ( Nurse Mills / 2003 / Released / )
Abandon - ( Katie Burke / 2002 / Released / )
The Gift - ( Jessica King / 2000 / Released / )
Wonder Boys - ( Hannah Green / 2000 / Released / )
Go - ( Claire Montgomery / 1999 / Released / )
Teaching Mrs. Tingle - ( Leigh Ann Watson / 1999 / Released / )
Disturbing Behavior - ( Rachel Wagner / 1998 / Released / Roadshow Pictures )
The Ice Storm - ( Libbets Casey / 1997 / Released / )
TV Credits
Eli Stone ( 2008 / Released ): Actor
Save the Music: A Concert to Benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation ( 2005 / Released ): Actor
The 2005 MTV Movie Awards ( 2005 / Released ): Actor
MTV Presents Teen People Magazine's 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
VH1 Big in '03 ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
Christmas In Washington ( 2002 / Released ): Host
The 2000 MTV Movie Awards ( 2000 / Released ): Actor
Teen People's 21 Hottest Stars Under 21 ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
The 1999 MTV Movie Awards ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
50th Emmy Awards ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Dawson's Creek ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
All Good Things... (1) ( 2003 )
TV Episode Josephine "Joey" Potter
...Must Come to an End (2) ( 2003 )
TV Episode Josephine "Joey" Potter
Joey Potter and the Capeside Redemption ( 2003 )
TV Episode Josephine "Joey" Potter
Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road ( 2003 )
TV Episode Josephine "Joey" Potter
Catch-22 ( 2003 )
TV Episode Josephine "Joey" Potter
(121 more)
Dawson's Creek: Behind the Scenes ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
MTV's New Year's Eve Live ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Nickelodeon's 11th Annual Kids' Choice Awards ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Seventeen: The Faces For Fall ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Full Biography
Katie Holmes was fresh out of a wholesome Midwestern high school existence when she became an overnight sensation in the WB’s anchor teen drama “Dawson’s Creek” (1998-2003). Her real life naiveté and lack of pretension lent a quality of realism to the smartly scripted small town chronicle, which was a much-needed shift away from the previous wave of TV high schools populated by wealthy, Southern California fashionistas. Down-to-earth Holmes and her naturalistic acting style were an integral factor in the success and six year-run of “Dawson’s Creek,” but the actress’s transition to the big screen was not so seamless. Her young adult horror fare was forgettable and her limited acting range showed itself in uneven attempts at indie dramas and broad comedies. While searching for a suitable post-Dawson acting niche, Holmes was the subject of more press than ever in her career, due to a whirlwind romance and marriage to Tom Cruise, an unlikely suitor 16 years her senior and already under fire from the press for excessive Scientology proselytizing.
Katie Holmes was born on Dec. 18, 1978 — two months prematurely — and spent her early weeks in the hospital’s intensive care unit. She was raised in a suburb of Toledo, OH, as the youngest of five children to lawyer, Martin, and homemaker, Kathy, who recalled in interviews that Holmes was an unusually headstrong and determined toddler. Growing up Catholic, Holmes attended parochial schools, where she was an excellent student, a cheerleader, and participated in school plays. Naturally athletic, she played sports with her family and earned extra money mowing lawns in the neighborhood.
When the accomplished – and very tall – teen was just 14, she began taking classes at a local modeling school, eventually receiving an invite to attend a talent and modeling convention in New York, where she was promptly signed by a talent agent. Not long afterwards, Holmes was flown to Los Angeles, CA to read for a part in Ang Lee’s 1970s dysfunctional family portrait "The Ice Storm" (1997). Surprisingly, the green actress landed her first supporting screen role as the girl-next-door love interest of Tobey Maguire’s teen character. Holmes made the most of her debut, proving a compelling and natural screen performer.
Encouraged by her out-of-the-gate success, Holmes and her mother took some time out from her senior year of high school to travel to L.A. for “pilot season,” joining the ranks of ambitious actors who set up camp at local hotels for several months during the busiest television casting period of the year. Nothing panned out during her stay, but once home, she got word that film director Kevin Williamson was casting for a new nighttime teen drama called “Dawson’s Creek” on the fledgling WB network. She sent in a homemade audition video and was met with an offer to read for the show’s creator, but the young actress' homespun values almost caused her to miss her big break. The audition was scheduled for the same day she was to debut as Lola in her high school production of "Damn Yankees" and Holmes politely declined, citing her commitment to fellow castmates. Casting agents wisely rescheduled and Holmes won the role on the ensemble drama about a group of teens in a small New England town, playing another girl-next-door, Joey Potter, love interest of the sensitive, movie-obsessed title character.
As Potter, Holmes played the injured innocent — sweet, but with an edge, her trademark sideways smile befitting the weary – but – bravely optimistic child of an imprisoned father and dead mother, with an overworked sister for a guardian. Her naturalistic acting style, along with her fresh-faced brunette beauty made her a new favorite among young audiences who were tired of the overly processed “90210” teen role models. In real life, this role model had been accepted to Columbia University, but deferred for several semesters before dropping the idea of college altogether. But “Dawson’s Creek” was continually renewed by the network and the ambitious Holmes spent her annual hiatus exploring new types of roles on the big screen.
Her appealing performance in the disappointing thriller "Disturbing Behavior" (1998) could not elevate the film above its uninspired predictability, and while Williamson's "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" (1999) showcased Holmes' glowing presence, it was apparent that it was high time the 20-year-old moved past the teen scream genre. A move in that direction Holmes portrayed a supermarket checkout girl caught up in a drug-related hostage situation in Doug Liman’s well-reviewed comic actioner, "Go" (1999). But in an acclaimed adaptation of Michael Chabon’s academia-set drama "Wonder Boys" (2000), Holmes shone in her few moments onscreen, as a flirtatious student of a middle-aged writing professor (Michael Douglas).
Keeping up an effort to play against her established "Dawson's Creek" persona, she appeared in Sam Raimi’s thriller "The Gift" (2000), as a bitchy, man-eating Southern beauty who is brutally murdered, essaying a grown-up nude scene, designed more to put the character of sweet-faced Joey behind her than to titillate. She landed her first leading feature role with the dark psychological drama, "Abandon" (2002), but Holmes’ performance was overshadowed by the more intriguing and believable supporting performance by Zooey Deschanel. The following year, she made a solid appearance in Joel Schumacher's well-received real-time thriller "The Phone Booth," playing the spunky actress girlfriend of philanderer Colin Farrell. Further laying the groundwork for a post-Dawson career as the series entered its last season, Holmes gave her strongest and most surprising performance yet in "Pieces of April" (2003), as a headstrong young woman trying to reconcile with her dying mother.
Off-screen, the admired actress was also tackling a new adult life, that year announcing her engagement to “American Pie” hottie, Chris Klein, an actor who also shared her down-to-earth, Midwestern sensibilities. The couple was never a red carpet fixture, instead preferring to stay in and watch movies and cook dinner. Holmes followed up with the critically skewered rom-com "First Daughter" (2004), playing an independent-minded Presidential offspring who falls for the Secret Service agent assigned to protect her while she attends college. Holmes got her introductory shot at an action blockbuster when she was cast opposite Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne's childhood friend and love interest in “Batman Begins” (2005). Dismally miscast, Holmes received a Razzie Award for her portrayal of Rachel Dawes, an incorruptible Gotham City district attorney. She fared better with her role as a reporter of questionable integrity in the indie corporate satire “Thank You For Smoking” (2005).
But casting a much bigger shadow that year than either of her recent screen appearances was the announcement that she and A-list superstar Tom Cruise were suddenly dating, mere months after Holmes and Klein had called off their engagement. The unlikely duo – 16 years apart in age and physically awkward together in public – were devoured by the gossip blogs, who speculated that the relationship was a publicity stunt timed to coincide with blockbuster movie releases from each star. But, to the surprise of many – despite the newness of the relationship, Holmes dove right in, adopting Cruise's management team and taking courses in his controversial religion, Scientology seemingly off the bat.
After three months, the pair was engaged. In October, Holmes announced that she was pregnant and dropping out of her co-starring role in the drama, "Shame on You" (2008). The paparazzi kept a close eye on her ever-bulging belly and her rote declarations of love until Holmes gave birth to daughter, Suri, in April, 2006. Because the couple had been so forthcoming with all other details of their life together, the press and public were surprised when no photos of their baby daughter were released. Finally, Cruise, Holmes and their 4-month-old daughter posed for photographer Annie Leibovitz for a 22-page spread in Vanity Fair, receiving much publicity for that first peek in September, 2006. Two months later, the couple was wed in an elaborate, star-studded ceremony in Italy.
More a tabloid curiosity than an actress for the past two years, Holmes returned to the big screen in early 2008; Unfortunately, it was in the misguided “girl power” heist caper, “Mad Money,” starring alongside heavyhitters Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah, with Holmes being singled out as the weakest link in an overall misguided film.
Profession(s):
Actor
Sometimes Credited As:
Katie Noelle Holmes
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Family
brother:Martin Holmes Jr (Older)
daughter:Suri Cruise (Born April 18, 2006; father, Tom Cruise)
father:Martin Holmes
husband:Tom Cruise (Began dating in April 2005; became engaged in June 17, 2005, atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France; married Nov. 18, 2006 in a 15th-century castle outside of Rome in Bracciano, Italy; they had "officialized their marriage in Los Angeles prior to their departure for Italy")
mother:Kathy Holmes
Companion(s)
Chris Klein , Companion , ```..Began dating in January 2000; engaged in December 2003; announced split in March 4, 2005
Joshua Jackson , Companion , ```..Co-starred together on "Dawson's Creek" (WB); briefly dated in 1998
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Education
Columbia University New York, NY
Notre Dame High School Toledo, OH 1997
Awards
MTV Movie Award Breakthrough Female Performance "Disturbing Behavior" 1999
Milestones
2008 Co-starred with Queen Latifah and Diane Keaton in "Mad Money"
2008 Made Broadway debut in a revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons"
2006 Portrayed a reporter opposite Aaron Eckhart in the satirical comedy "Thank You for Smoking" directed by Jason Reitman
2005 Starred as the love interest to Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) in "Batman Begins"
2003 Played a troubled young woman forced to reevaluate her familial ties in "Pieces of April"
2003 Played Colin Farrell's mistress in Joel Schumacher's "Phone Booth"
2000 Played a college student infatuated with her English professor in "Wonder Boys"
2000 Played a slutty rich girl whose disappearance and murder is an integral plot point in "The Gift"
1999 Featured in the ensemble of Doug Liman's "Go"
1999 Starred in Kevin Williamson's directorial debut, "Teaching Mrs Tingle"
1998 Cast as Joey Potter, the childhood best friend of the title character, in "Dawson's Creek" (WB)
1998 Played leading role in David Nutter's "Disturbing Behavior"
1997 Landed role of Lola in high school production of "Damn Yankees"
1997 Had featured role as Libbets Casey in Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm"
Born and raised in Toledo, OH
Attended a modeling and talent convention in NYC where she was spotted by a talent manager
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