Katherine Moennig Biography

Biography

Birth Name
Katherine Sian Moennig
Date of birth (location)
29 December 1976
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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A lithe dark-haired actress with natural talent and an androgynous appeal used to good effect with a role as a teenage girl posing as a boy on The WB's teen drama "Young Americans" (2000- ), Katherine Moennig began acting at age ten. A precocious young performer, she not only starred in a Philadelphia production of "Winnie the Pooh" at the Children's Theatre Workshop, she co-wrote and directed an improvised version of the play at the city's Free Library. In 1999, her career took off, beginning with a featured appearance in a music video for the popular Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. That same year she acted in a Williamstown Theatre Festival production of "As You Like It" that starred her cousin, Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, but it was her TV debut on "Young Americans" that would jump-start the spirited young actress' career.

She played Jake on the series, a teenage girl from a wealthy but shockingly disinterested family who sees the all-male Rawley Academy as a suitable learning institution and a place to get the acceptance and attention she is missing at home. Masquerading her feminine attributes (quite unconvincingly to the viewer) with layers of clothing and a choppy short haircut, Jake starts up a friendship with fellow oddball Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder), the brooding rebellious son of the school's dean. Their intimacy and Hamilton's unawareness of her gender leads to some awkward moments for the two, which Moennig, playing the in the know character who momentarily forgets about her deception, handled with an enchanting innocence. The strangeness of the role gave the actress a higher profile, which this natural, unforced performer would ideally use as a stepping stone to a successful acting future.