Katie Holmes was born Kate Noelle Holmes on December 18, 1978 in Toledo, Ohio. The youngest among five siblings, she began modeling at age 16 but chose to pursue acting because she felt it was more challenging. In 1997, she landed a small part in the Ang Lee film, The Ice Storm, which marked the start of her professional acting career. The following year, she sent an audition tape to writer/director/producer Kevin Williamson for his new show, Dawson’s Creek. The producers immediately called her back for a live reading but she had to beg off when the schedule coincided with the opening night of a production of Damn Yankees which she was starring in. Because the Dawson’s Creek producers wanted her so much, they agreed to reschedule her callback and the rest is now history. Most recently, she appeared opposite Christian Bale in the latest Batman film installment, Batman Begins. She married superstar Tom Cruise in November last year, a few months after the birth of their first child, Suri.
Joey Potter, played by Katie Holmes on Dawson’s Creek, was the typical girl next door and longtime childhood friend of Dawson Leery. She went through a lot in her young life, having lost her mother to cancer and her father to incarceration. Following a brief stab at romance with Dawson, Joey ended up in the arms of another close friend, Pacey Witter.
(Photo courtesy of Fred Norris)