Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall (/kəˈtræl/; born 21 August 1956) is a British and Canadian actress. She is known for her portrayal of Samantha Jones on HBO's Sex and the City (1998–2004), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning the 2002 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the feature films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), as well as in a cameo on the spin-off series And Just Like That... (2023).
Kim Cattrall
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Actress
- producer
1975–present
Cattrall made her film debut in Rosebud (1975) and went on to star opposite Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-nominated film Tribute (1980) and in Ticket to Heaven (1981). She came to prominence with starring roles in films such as Porky's (1982), Police Academy (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Mannequin (1987), and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). She is also known for her theatre work, with credits including Wild Honey (Broadway, 1986), Miss Julie (McCarter Theatre, 1993), Private Lives (West End, 2010), Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse, 2010), and Sweet Bird of Youth (The Old Vic, 2013).
From 2014 to 2016, Cattrall starred on and served as executive producer of HBO Canada's Sensitive Skin, for which she received a nomination for the 2016 Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. She went on to star on the Paramount+ series Tell Me a Story (2018–2019), the Fox series Filthy Rich (2020), the Peacock revival series Queer as Folk (2022), and the Netflix series Glamorous (2023). From 2022 to 2023, she played "future" Sophie on the Hulu sitcom How I Met Your Father.
Early life[edit]
Kim Victoria Cattrall was born on 21 August 1956[1] in the Mossley Hill area of Liverpool, Lancashire (now Merseyside),[2] the daughter of secretary Gladys Shane (née Baugh; 1929–2022) and construction engineer Dennis Cattrall (1925–2012).[3] She has two sisters and she also had a brother named Christopher Cattrall (1963–2018).[4][5] When she was three months old, her family immigrated to Canada and settled in Courtenay, British Columbia. At age 11, she returned to her native British city of Liverpool when her grandmother became sick. She took acting examinations at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,[6] but returned to Canada after one year and moved to New York City at the age of 16 for her first acting role.
Career[edit]
1972–2008[edit]
Cattrall began her career after graduating from Georges P. Vanier Secondary School in 1972, when she left Canada for New York City. There, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and upon her graduation signed a five-year film deal with director Otto Preminger. She made her film debut in Preminger's action thriller Rosebud (1975). A year later, Universal Studios bought out that contract and Cattrall became one of the last participants in the contract player system of Universal (also referenced as MCA/Universal during this period) before the system ended in 1980. The Universal system's representative in New York, Eleanor Kilgallen (sister of Dorothy Kilgallen), cast Cattrall in numerous television guest-star roles. One of the first jobs Kilgallen got her was in a 1977 episode of Quincy, M.E. starring Jack Klugman, whom Kilgallen also represented.
In 1978, Cattrall played the house guest of a murderous psychologist in an episode of Columbo and also in "Blindfold", an episode of the 1970s action series Starsky & Hutch, in which Starsky (played by Paul Michael Glaser) is grief-stricken since he accidentally blinded Cattrall's character, young artist Emily Harrison, by a shot of his gun. She starred in The Bastard (1978) and The Rebels (1979), two television miniseries based on the John Jakes novels of the same names. In 1979, she played the role of Dr. Gabrielle White on The Incredible Hulk and would go down in television Hulk lore as one of the few characters who knew David Banner (alter ego of the title character) was alive and was the creature. Her work in television paid off and she quickly made the transition to cinema. She starred opposite Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-nominated film Tribute (1980), and in Crossbar, the film about a high jumper who loses his leg and still participates in the Olympic trials, with Cattrall's help. The following year, she appeared in Ticket to Heaven.
In 1981, Cattrall played PE teacher Miss Honeywell in Porky's, followed three years later by a role in the original Police Academy. In 1985, she starred in three films: Turk 182, City Limits and Hold-Up, the last with French star Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1986, she played Kurt Russell's brainy flame in the action film Big Trouble in Little China. In 1987, her lead role in the cult comedy film Mannequin proved a huge success with audiences. One of her best-known film roles is that of Lieutenant Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; Cattrall assisted in developing the character by designing her own hairstyle and even helped come up with the name.
Aside from her film work, Cattrall is also a stage actress, with performances in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters and Wild Honey to her credit. In addition, she can be heard reading the poetry of Rupert Brooke on the CD Red Rose Music SACD Sampler Volume One.