Biography:
Katie got her start as an actress in theater productions at her high school, Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls Catholic school in her hometown of Toledo, OH. She comes from a "super-athletic" family, the youngest of three sisters and one brother, and she admits that despite her best efforts she was "horrible" at sports. Katie found her niche in theater, although, she never dreamed she could make it professionally as an actress because of her Midwest roots.

However, in July 1995 she attended IMTA's annual "Hooray for Hollywood" Convention in New York City, where she caught the eye of talent manager Al Onorato, who encouraged her to come to Los Angeles for television's pilot season. Six months later, in LA, she immediately won a small role in Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm," a critically acclaimed art house film based on the novel by the same name by Rick Moody. Shortly after this, Katie was offered the part of Buffy Summers in the WB's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." However she declined in order to complete her high school education.

In fact, she followed up her big screen debut in "The Ice Storm" with a part as Lola in her school's production of "Damn Yankees." As the oft-repeated tale goes, this nearly cost her the role of Joey Potter, as she refused to ditch her classmates' on opening night for the scheduled "Dawson's Creek" audition. However, DC creator and writer Kevin Williamson was so impressed by her audition tape, made in her basement with her mother playing Dawson, that he was willing to reschedule.

The young actor and her Dawson’s Creek fellow cast members, all of whom had limited acting experience, became instant teen idols. Pretty, chestnut-maned doe-eyed Holmes was immediately cast in the movie Disturbing Behavior (1998), then went on to Go (1999), Muppets From Space (1999) and the unfortunate critically-panned Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999). In 2000 Katie was seen in the thriller The Gift with Cate Blanchett and the critically acclaimed Wonder Boys. Katie was just in Abandon (2002) with Benjamin Bratt. Her latest movie, The Phone Booth, has just arrived in theaters. Upcoming Katie will be in Pieces of April (2003).