An attractive and capable actress whose talent has been overshadowed by her tabloid-friendly love life, Holmes landed a supporting part in 1997's
The Ice Storm on her first-ever audition. On her second, she snagged a role on the prime-time teen soap
Dawson's Creek. Afraid of being typecast, Holmes took on diverse film roles when the series was on hiatus, including a checkout girl involved in a drug deal in 1999's
Go, a promiscuous murder victim in The Gift and a wannabe teen seductress in
Wonder Boys, both in 2000. When
Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, Holmes gave a stunning performance as a punky slacker attempting to prepare Thanksgiving dinner in the low-budget indie hit
Pieces of April. But focus soon shifted from her career to her stormy personal life. After splitting from longtime love Chris Klein, she took up with Tom Cruise in the spring of 2005, prompting the megastar to proclaim his love standing atop a sofa on
The Oprah Winfrey Show. Dubbed TomKat by the media, the couple enjoyed a whirlwind courtship and soon announced that they were engaged. After they married in 2006, Holmes, Cruise and their daughter, Suri, have been frequent fodder for tabloid coverage, including some speculation that Suri---not often photographed at first---was fictitious. Annie Leibovitz photos of the child that appeared in Vanity Fair in 2006 spiked sales for the magazine. Holmes also remained active later in the decade with fashion work and, in 2010, took on acting and producing duties on the romantic comedy,
The Romantics.
Katie Holmes Fast Facts:
- Auditioned for Dawson's Creek via videotape because she was unable to attend the meeting in person: she was starring in her high school's production of Damn Yankees at the time.
- Why success doesn't go to her head: "My family would knock me on the side of the head," she told Teen magazine in 1998.
- In a 2002 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, she explained the attraction of working with such respected directors as Ang Lee (The Ice Storm), Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys) and Joel Schumacher (Phone Booth): "When you work with somebody that's better than you, then you get better."
- One of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003.
- Got engaged to actor Tom Cruise on June 17, 2005, at the Eiffel Tower. The couple got married on Nov. 18, 2006, at Odescalchi Castle in Lake Bracciano, Italy.
- Portrayed a dishonest journalist in the satirical 2005 film Thank You for Smoking, which lampooned lobbyists for controversial products such as guns and cigarettes.
- In 2009, became a face for advertising for Miu Miu, a fashion line.
- Also in 2009, took part in the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C., in which she honored an Iraq War veteran.
- Slated to produce, and star in, a planned 2010 film, The Romantics. She replaced Liz Tyler in the romantic comedy.
- Katie Holmes Relationships:
- Isabella Cruise - Stepdaughter
- Martin Holmes Jr. - Brother
- Tamera - Sister
- Kathleen Holmes - Mother
- Tom Cruise - Husband
- Chris Klein - Ex-fiancé
- Holly - Sister
- Martin Holmes - Father
- Nancy Blaylock - Sister
- Suri Cruise - Daughter
- Connor Cruise - Stepson