The Goddess of the WB: Katie Holmes

   Katie Holmes was born in the year 1980 on Toledo, OH and the youngest child of her family. While, in high school, this is where she started acting in "theater productions" and she thought that while living in the Midwest, she wouldn't have a chance to become a "star." But that's where she's wrong, while going to New York City, NY where she attended a "International Modeling and Talent Association convention", this is where she met a "talent manager"(Al Onorato) , whom encouraged her to come to Los Angeles for television's pilot season.
   On her first ever professional audition for the motion picture, "The Ice Storm" she had amazed/suprised the casting director! While her extradionary acting and others as well had helped the film "The Ice Storm", which also stars Kevin Kliene, Sigourney Weaver, etc win the "Cannes Film Festival".
   She recently finished high school and will be moving to Wilmington, NC where "Dawson's Creek" is shot. She started acting when she was on high school in "theater productions"
   On Dawson's Creek, she plays Joey Potter a smart-mouthed girl from the wrong side of the tracks, is Dawson's oldest childhood chum. Her dad's in prison, her mom died of cancer, she lives with her older sister, who happens to be pregnant by her black boyfriend. (That carries mucho shock value in a small town like Capeside.) Oh yeah, she's also secretly in love with Dawson.

courtesy of Columbia TriStartm

Eighteen-year-old Katie Holmes possesses an exceptional maturity much like Joey Potter, the character she portrays on DAWSON'S CREEK.

Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Holmes began acting in high-school theater productions in spite of a personal belief that acting careers couldn't be sustained living in the Midwest. "Toledo is a bit bigger than Capeside, (the fictional location of DAWSON'S CREEK), but there are similarities," she says. "I'm a small-town girl just like Joey. I wasn't the one that had the boys in high school. I was a little bit of a tomboy and also the youngest in my family, so I thought I knew everything. Like Joey, I made a lot of mistakes, but fortunately I haven't had the tragedy that she's experienced in her life."

Her character, Joey Potter, is something of a tomboy. As Holmes explains, "Joey is a 15-year-old girl that uses a tough attitude as a guard because she's been through so much. She's been hurt so many times that she doesn't want to be vulnerable and put herself out there for everyone. She has to be tough. She lost her mom [to cancer] and her dad's in prison. She doesn't have the best reputation in town because her sister, Bessie, is pregnant by Bodie, her black boyfriend, and they all live together. Her relationship with Dawson has been the only stable thing in her life and now it's beginning to change."

The stability and importance of friends played a significant role in Holmes' life as well when she choose to honor her commitment to friends and classmates by performing in the school production of "Damn Yankees" instead of going to Los Angeles on a callback from the producers and casting agents for DAWSON'S CREEK. Fortunately, the producers were able to reschedule the audition and Holmes won the role of Joey Potter.

A captivating newcomer to the entertainment world, Holmes has experienced incredible success, landing major roles in both feature films and television projects while participating in only a handful of auditions. Her very first professional audition resulted in a plum role in the award-winning film, THE ICE STORM, directed by Ang Lee (SENSE AND SENSIBILITY). The film, which recently won the screenplay award from the Cannes Film Festival, stars Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood and Joan Allen and depicts the sexual revolution of the 1970s.

Having graduated from high school, Holmes is now living in Wilmington, North Carolina while working on DAWSON'S CREEK.

courtesy of Warner Brostm

Exuding a preternatural maturity both on and off the screen, Katie Holmes is a captivating newcomer to the acting business, landing major roles both in film and on television with just a handful of auditions.

Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Holmes started acting in theater productions in high school, but didn't think she had a shot at stardom living in the Midwest. Fate intervened when she was attending a national modeling and talent convention in New York City, and she met a talent manager who encouraged her to come to Los Angeles for television's pilot season.

On her very first professional audition, Holmes dazzled the casting director for the acclaimed feature film "The Ice Storm." Directed by Ang Lee ("Sense and Sensibility"), the Fox Searchlight release won the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival and starred Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood and Joan Allen. The slice-of-life art house film about the sexual revolution of the 1970s featured Holmes as the love interest of Toby Maguire.

When the next pilot season came up during her senior year of high school, Holmes opted to skip coming out to Los Angeles to perform in her school's production of "Damn Yankees" as Lola. For the "Dawson's Creek" audition, she sent in a videotape from Toledo, and when the call back conflicted with her play's opening night, she declined rather than let down her classmates. Fortunately, the producers were able to reschedule her audition and she landed the series regular role of Joey Potter.

courtesy of UltimateTVtm

Easily the standout in an engaging, attractive cast, Katie Holmes is everything an actress should be: talented at her craft, mesmerizing to watch and sincerely relatable.

She's also stunningly gorgeous in a "joy-to-watch-grow-up" kind of way.

As Joey Potter, childhood chum to lead Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Holmes is unselfconscious, while at the same time completely self-conscious, a budding heartbreaker without a clue. Intellectual and effectual, she's the voice of reason, of reality, of cynicism in her tight group of friends that also includes witty and edgy Pacey (Joshua Jackson, another stunner) and the haltingly coy bombshell Jenn (Michelle Williams).

If Holmes seems like someone you know or once knew (and obviously someone you wished you knew), that's because she comes from the heartland - Toledo, Ohio, to be exact. While she acted some in high school, she was convinced that she was GU (geographically undesirable) for a career as an actor.

But, as fate and luck would have it, Holmes, attending a New York modeling and talent convention, met up with an agent who encouraged her to pursue a career - and come to Los Angeles during pilot season, when hordes of aspiring actors descend upon the city of angels in the hopes of "the big break."

And you know how they say some people were just "born with it?" Well, that would be Holmes, because for her very first professional audition, she wowed the casting director for Ang Lee's now acclaimed feature film "The Ice Storm."

The much-talked about Fox Searchlight release won the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival and starred Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood and Joan Allen. The slice-of-life art house film about the sexual revolution of the 1970s featured Holmes as the love interest of Toby Maguire.

A key turn to her role was a party scene, in which her character imbibes. Of the scene, Holmes tells UltimateTV, "I didn't have any experience with drugs, but I'd seen people who were drunk and high, and they always acted really tired, so that's the way I went." She also relished working with "Sense & Sensibility" director Ang Lee

"When I first arrived on the set, he took me into the trailer and explained the part and made sure I was comfortable with it," she recalls. "He had a great rapport with the crew, he helped a lot. He blocks the scene, lets you try it out, gives you input. Very hands on."

Holmes returned home for her senior year and her class production of "Damn Yankees" - she even opted out of pilot season that year so that she could appear as sizzling "Lola."

For the "Dawson's" audition, she sent a videotape of herself and received a call back - but the date conflicted with the show's opening night and, concerned about her classmates, she chose to take to the stage.

Fortunately for Holmes, "Dawson's" and viewers, the audition was rescheduled. Holmes, while exuding more overt maturity than Joey, is certainly as self-effacing. She tells UltimateTV, "Joey is the girl who usually doesn't get the guys...I didn't (get guys) in high school...She's a nice person...She maintains."

Eighteen-year-old Holmes (who, of all her cast mates, actually most looks the part) says of playing a 15- year-old, "It's nice to be older because you can look at the big picture, you can remember how you felt...I relate to it so much - I was just there."

"It was a dream," Holmes says of her souped-up career. "Going from a high school musical to go to this pilot. Getting to meet all these people...Forming all these friendships, and all this buzz...it's crazy." While a little overwhelmed, she's still excited by it all and is ready for fan mail, that is, "if somebody wants to write me."

She also tells UltimateTV that in 10 years she sees herself "Married, with 1.5 children," and adds with a laugh, "I hope I'm at a nice place in my career, hope I'm starting college or have already gone, I hope I'm in love... to just be comfortable... I want to do things that are interesting and help me grow as an actor...Do things that make me happy; projects that make me happy."

Hey, we at UltimateTV will be happy as long as Katie Holmes keeps working.

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