Katie Holmes

TV stardom can be both a blessing and a curse for wannabe film actors. For every George Clooney there's a hundred David Carusos, those whose charisma could fill a living-room but who faded to impotence when the screen turned silver. One of the more interesting cases of the mid-Noughties was Sarah Michelle Gellar, who cleverly paced herself from Buffy the Vampire Slayer through two Scooby-Doo movies into the US remake of shocker The Grudge. Another would be Katie Holmes. Having earned a huge and loyal teenage following via six seasons of Dawson's Creek, wherein she cemented her image as the feisty but virginal and decent Joey Potter, her move into films would see her gradually, carefully draw away this veil of innocence and, as she grew deeper into her twenties, reveal herself as an actress of great intelligence and ability. Scarlett Johansson would often be described as the finest screen actress of a new generation, but Holmes was the dark horse, coming up quietly on the rails.

She was born Katherine Noelle Holmes on the 18th of December, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio, a large-ish town on the Maumee River, right by Lake Erie and some 40 miles south of Detroit. Her father, Martin, was a lawyer, doing well enough for his wife Kathleen to work as homemaker for their five children, of whom Katie was the youngest - following sisters Tamera, Holly and Nancy, and brother Martin. Dad was tall, very tall, an ex college basketball player, and Kathleen was far above average height, too, a reserved and lady-like beauty.

Young Katie would inherit some of this height (eventually reaching 5 foot 9), her concomitant skinniness making her a gawky kid. This did not help as she attempted to follow in the family tradition of sporting excellence, an attempt part-thwarted when, in 7th Grade, a schoolmate accidentally hit her in the left eye, messing up her vision. When tired she would now see double from it, requiring corrective glasses. Thus sport was not to be her field of expertise.

Instead, having taken piano and singing lessons from a young age, Katie found her place in theatre, excelling in productions put on at the nun-run Notre Dame Academy, a Catholic all-girls high school her mother had attended before her. As the school's strict codes of conduct saw all the pupils wearing uniform.

Katie had little opportunity to think about the likes of clothes and boys, instead focusing on work, excelling in chorus, dance and drama. Her father helped to keep her on the straight and narrow, his size intimidating predatory would-be boyfriends. Consequently, she only ever dated "nice" boys, and never broke her parents' curfew.

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