Katie Holmes was born on December 18, 1978 in Toledo, Ohio. Baptized as a Catholic, she began acting in school musicals. She started taking modeling classes at age 14, which resulted in her being brought to an IMTA competition in New York City. She was found by a casting agent, and she subsequently appeared in the 1997 film The Ice Storm, playing alongside Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. She then went to Los Angeles to find more acting roles, but had to audition for her breakthrough role via videotape due to other commitments. Nevertheless, she earned the part of Joey Potter—headstrong and determined yet uncertain and emotionally sensitive—in the drama series Dawson’s Creek.
Her role in the series catapulted her to fame. Attention gushed in from audiences, critics and the press, with articles describing her as the “Audrey Hepburn of her generation.” Arena magazine, applauding her smart-girl-next-door characteristics, called her “the most coquettishly sexy woman on television. Anywhere.” Holmes later appeared in many magazine covers and became the subject of many write-ups in the press, as she continued to play the character throughout the show’s run, from 1998 to 2003.
Her film career, however, was not as successful. Most of her films were failures at the box office, starting from her first leading role in Disturbing Behavior, and followed by roles in Phone Booth, Teaching Mrs. Tingle and First Daughter. She also had her share of critical successes; her performances in films such as Pieces of April, Wonder Boys and Abandon. Her biggest box-office hit to date is the 2005 superhero film Batman Begins, where she played the role of Rachel Dawes, a role that she did not reprise in the 2008 sequel The Dark Knight.
Off-screen, Holmes is perhaps most known for her relationship with actor Tom Cruise. Their relationship attracted wide media attention, from its early stages, to her conversion to Scientology, to their marriage and her giving birth to daughter Suri.