| BIOGRAPHY
A popular screen figure of the 1980s and '90s whose casting
in HBO's runaway hit series Sex and the City provided her career
with a solid second wind, Emmy-winning actress Kim Cattrall has
endured to prove that older women can retain their sexuality and
femininity while simultaneously maintaining a vital screen presence.
Born in Liverpool, England, Cattrall's parents immigrated the
family to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, when the future
actress was three years old. After returning to England at age
11 to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts,
Cattrall finished high school in Vancouver, and at age 16 struck
out on her own after winning a scholarship to the American Academy
of Dramatic Arts in New York.
Though director Otto Preminger would sign Cattrall to a five-year
contract and give the actress her film debut in Rosebud (1975),
Universal would soon step in to buy out her contract, making Cattrall
one of the last actors to participate in the now defunct Universal
Contract Player System. Following with television appearances
in Starskey and Hutch and Charlie's Angels, and turning up in
such features as Deadly Harvest (1977), it appeared as if good
things were in store for Cattrall in the future. The dawn of the
1980s found Cattrall's star ascending in such features as Porky's
(1981), and with the release of Police Academy in 1984 her face
was becoming a familiar one to film and television audiences.
Following up with such typically '80s fare as Turk 182! (1985),
Cattrall essayed the role of the green-eyed girl whose fate was
questionable in John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China (1986),
the year before her most famous (until Sex and the City of course)
role in Mannequin (1987). Essentially a typical '80s throwaway
comedy, Cattrall's effervescent presence, combined with Starship's
catchy title tune "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," gave
the film such a boost that it even spawned a Cattrall-less sequel.
It was following Mannequin that Cattrall's career began to stall
in the wake of such instantly forgettable films as Honeymoon Academy
(1990) and the Gary Busey actioner Breaking Point (1993), though
her role in 1995's Live Nude Girls proved a curious precursor
to her role on Sex and the City.
A frank and funny HBO series based on the writings of New York
Observer columnist Candace Bushnell, Sex and the City gave Cattrall
a chance to shine as a lusty an unabashedly sexual PR executive
whose confidence in the bedroom rivals only her confidence in
the boardroom. A runaway hit that's popularity only grew as the
show entered is sixth season, Sex and the City once again made
Cattrall a household name as it influenced everything from fashion
to the drinks of the New York scene. Cattrall's character proved
so popular that in mid-2003 it was announced that once Sex and
the City drew to a close, she would star in her own spin-off series.
Though she would inexplicably continue to release such vapid feature
fare as Baby Geniuses (1999), appearances in such efforts as the
Britney Spears road drama Crossroads ensured that Cattrall would
remain a familiar face to young audiences.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• Every Woman's Dream (2003)
• Crossroads (2002)
• 15 Minutes (2001)
• Baby Geniuses (1999)
• Modern Vampires (1998)
• Exception to the Rule (1997)
• Invasion (1997)
• Where Truth Lies (1996)
• Above Suspicion (1995)
• Live Nude Girls (1995)
• Breaking Point (1994)
• 36 Hours to Die (1993)
• Wild Palms (1993)
• Double Vision (1992)
• Running Delilah (1992)
• Split Second (1992)
• Miracle in the Wilderness (1991)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
• Honeymoon Academy (1990)
• Smokescreen (1990)
• Good Night, Michelangelo (1989)
• The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
• Masquerade (1988)
• Mannequin (1987)
• Midnight Crossing (1987)
• Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
• City Limits (1985)
• Turk 182 (1985)
• Police Academy (1984)
• Porky's (1981)
• Ticket to Heaven (1981)
• Scruples (1980)
• Tribute (1980)
• Good Against Evil (1977)
• Deadly Harvest (1976)
• Rosebud (1975) |
