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Kim Victoria Cattrall (born August 21, 1956, in Widnes, England) is an English-born Canadian Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated actress. She is well-known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy and Mannequin. Screen and stage actress Kim Cattrall was best known for her role as New York PR agent and femme fatale Samantha Jones on the hit HBO series "Sex and the City" (1998-2004). But prior to her lusty adventures in Manolo Blahnik shoes, Cattrall built up a long list of credits in forgotten low-budget features and TV movies during the 1980s, earning some notoriety for playing sexpots in “Porkys” (1982), “Police Academy” (1984) and “Mannequin” (1987). However her lackluster film career belied her classical theater training in London and New York, where her early acting days were marked by appearances in heavy dramas. These seemingly at-odds career paths finally converged to create the charismatic, sexy, and intense character that earned the actress an Emmy Award and the respect of countless women who felt that Cattrall’s performance as the unapologetically lustful Samantha laid waste to preconceived views of just how sexual a woman could or should be. Kim Cattrall was born in Widnes just outside of Liverpool. Her mother, Shane Cattrall, was a housewife; her father, Dennis Cattrall, was a builder. Cattrall has three siblings. When she was less than a year old, her family emigrated to Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada. At the age of 11 she returned to England when her grandmother became ill. During this time she took acting exams at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Cattrall returned to Canada at age sixteen, finishing her final year of high school there. Cattrall began her career after graduating high 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 movie deal with director Otto Preminger,and made her film debut in Preminger's Rosebud in 1975. A year later, Universal Studios bought out that contract and Cattrall became one of the last participants of the Universal Contract Player System. During her time with Universal, she guest starred in numerous television programmes of varying style and genre. In 1979 she played the role of Dr Gabrielle White in The Incredible Hulk and would go down in TV Hulk Lore as one of the few characters who knew David Banner 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 movie Tribute in 1980. The following year, she starred in the critically acclaimed Ticket to Heaven. In 1982, Cattrall played Miss Honeywell in Porky's, followed two years later by a role in the original Police Academy. In 1985, she starred in three movies: Turk 182, City Limits and Hold-Up. In 1986, she played Kurt Russell's brainy flame in the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. In 1987, her lead role in Mannequin proved a huge success with audiences. One of her most well-known film roles is that of the traitor Lieutenant Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In one of her better dramatic film roles, Cattrall played a sharp lawyer in John Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986), but offset that success by morphing into a department store mannequin brought to life to fulfill the fantasies of a doe-eyed Andrew McCarthy in 1987’s "Mannequin." She was excellent as a bitchy socialite in Bob Swaim's stylish thriller "Masquerade" (1988) and enjoyed some notice for her turn as villainous Justine DeWinter in the otherwise uninspired reunion film "The Return of the Musketeers" (1989). Cattrall returned to stage in “The Misanthrope" in 1989 at Chicago's famed Goodman Theatre and appeared as the Park Avenue wife of a New York power broker (Tom Hanks) in the failed adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990). Following a high-profile role as Mr. Spock's protégé Valeris in "Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country" (1991), the actress’ career suffered from a string of low-budget flops that capitalized on her fluency with steamy material. With the exception of the Oliver Stone-produced "Twin Peaks"-style miniseries, "Wild Palms" (ABC, 1993) and the adaptation of Wendy Wasserstein’s "The Heidi Chronicles" (TNT, 1995), her increasing appearances in TV movies and miniseries was generally overshadowed by the sharks, aliens, and murderers the plots revolved around. Aside from her film work, Cattrall is also a stage and theater actress, with performances in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters to her credit. In 1997, she was cast in Sex and the City, Darren Star's series that was broadcast on HBO. As Samantha Jones, Cattrall gained international recognition. Cattrall was fresh off of a few straight-to-video features when she was approached by Darren Starr about a stylish new series chronicling four single, professional women in New York City. The newly-40 actress famously rebuffed his offer several times, leery of committing herself to potentially years on one show and hesitant as to whether she could still pull off “femme fatale.” It turned out that the role of Samantha Jones was be the best fit that she had found in years, and “Sex and the City” instantly became a pop culture phenomena. Her vampy public relations maven was the most carnally adventurous of the group which included Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis and Cattrall brought an exceptionally self-assured performance and natural joie de vivre to her portrayal of the straight-talking socialite. Samantha was easily the show's most outrageous if sometimes cartoonish character, which made her integral to the show's comedic success. Her invaluable contribution was recognized with five Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe win during the show’s six seasons. She capitalised on her success by appearing in steamy television commercials promoting the Pepsi product Pepsi One. She also signed a publishing deal to write a book about sex with her third husband, Mark Levinson. In addition, she can be heard reading the poetry of Rupert Brooke on the CD Red Rose Music SACD Sampler Volume One. Her film work continued during Sex and the City when she starred as Caroline in Britney Spears' first film venture, Crossroads. Sex and the City ended as a weekly series in spring 2004 with an audience of 10.6m viewers. Cattrall will star in the Sex and the City film, which is due for release on May 30, 2008. When HBO retired “Sex and the City” in 2004 – amid unpleasant rumors that Cattrall’s clashes with lead actress and producer Parker had something to do with its demise – Cattrall returned to London where she appeared in a revival of Brian Clark’s “Whose Life is it Anyway?” and David Mamet’s “Cryptogram.” In 2008, she revisited her role of Samantha Jones in the highly-anticipated “Sex and the City: The Movie” (2008), following rumors that she had held up the production over salary disagreements. In 2005, she appeared in the Disney picture Ice Princess, in which she played the character of Tina Harwood, the ice skating coach of the film's lead character. Unfortunately, Ice Princess was not a financial success. She also portrayed Claire, a paralyzed woman who wants to die, in the West End drama revival of Whose Life Is It Anyway?. In early 2006, it was rumored that Cattrall would soon join the cast of Desperate Housewives, playing Edie's (Nicollette Sheridan) wild sister. In October 2006 she appeared in a West End production of David Mamet's The Cryptogram at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Since late 2005, she has appeared in a number of British television commercials for Tetley Tea. In July 2006, a commercial for Nissan cars, which featured Kim in her Samantha character from Sex and the City, was withdrawn from New Zealand television, apparently because of complaints about the innuendo. In 2006 she starred alongside Brendan Gleeson in John Boorman's 2006 film The Tiger's Tail, a black comedy that focuses on the impact of the Celtic Tiger economy on Irish people. On November 11 on ITV, she starred alongside David Haig, Daniel Radcliffe, and Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, the story of author Rudyard Kipling's search for his son lost in World War I. Cattrall has been married three times. Her 31 May 1977 - 1979 marriage to Larry Davis was annulled. Her second marriage was from 1982-89 to Andre J. Lyson. During her Sex and the City fame she was married to audio designer Mark Levinson from 4 September 1998 - 2004. The two co-wrote the 2002 book Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm. Cattrall has also been linked with former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Houston Rockets star Cuttino Mobley and her Whose Life is it Anyway? co-star Alexander Siddig. She has dated Canadian chef Alan Wyse since the summer of 2004, and in July 2007 the British tabloid press reported the two were engaged to be married. |
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