Kate Mulgrew

Katherine Kiernan Maria Mulgrew (born April 29, 1955)[1] is an American actress. She is known for the roles of Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager and Galina "Red" Reznikov on Orange Is the New Black. She first came to attention in the role of Mary Ryan on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope. Mulgrew is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Award, a Saturn Award, an Obie Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and has also received Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She is an active member of the Alzheimer's Association National Advisory Council and the voice of Cleveland's MetroHealth System.

Kate Mulgrew
Mulgrew in 2009
Born
Katherine Kiernan Maria Mulgrew

(1955-04-29) April 29, 1955
Alma materNew York University
OccupationActress
Years active1975–present
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
  • Robert H. Egan
    (m. 1982; div. 1995)
  • (m. 1999; div. 2014)
Children3

Early life

Mulgrew was born in 1955 in Dubuque, Iowa, into an Irish American Catholic family,[2] to Thomas James "T.J." Mulgrew II, a contractor, and Joan Virginia Mulgrew (née Kiernan), an artist and painter.[3] She attended Wahlert High School in Dubuque.[4]

At age 17, she was accepted at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in New York, conjoined with New York University in New York City. Mulgrew left NYU after one year.[5] During this time, to earn money while in New York, Mulgrew worked as a waitress.[6]

Career

Earlier career (1975–1995)

Her early career included portraying Mary Ryan for two years on the ABC soap Ryan's Hope (1975). She became a fan favorite and is still associated with the show long after its cancellation. Mulgrew remains friends with former co-star Ilene Kristen and presented a special Soap Opera Digest Award to Ryan's Hope creator Claire Labine in 1995. While in Ryan's Hope, she also played the role of Emily Webb in the American Shakespeare Theater production of Our Town in Stratford, Connecticut. Mulgrew played ambitious country singer Garnet McGee in a November 1978 episode of Dallas. In 1979-80, she played Kate Columbo in Mrs. Columbo, a spin-off of the detective series Columbo, created specifically for her, which lasted 13 episodes.

In 1981, Mulgrew co-starred with Richard Burton and Nicholas Clay in the Arthurian love triangle Lovespell as Irish princess Isolt, who casts a spell on Mark, King of Cornwall, and his surrogate son, Tristan. During that same year, she co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the six-hour miniseries about Irish immigrants in 19th century America called Manions of America. In 1985, she appeared in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins in the role of Major Fleming. In 1986, she appeared in a run of Cheers episodes as Janet Eldridge. In 1987, she appeared in Throw Momma from the Train as Margaret, Billy Crystal's character's ex-wife.

In 1992, Kate appeared on Murphy Brown as Hillary Wheaton, a Toronto-based anchorwoman brought in to replace Murphy Brown during her maternity leave, but who turned out to have the same problem with alcoholism as Brown had previously dealt with at the beginning of the series. Also in 1992, she played a guest-starring role as a soap-opera star who kills her husband and tries to cover it up, on Murder, She Wrote, episode number 170, titled "Ever After". Around the same time, she guest-starred in three episodes of Batman: The Animated Series as the terrorist Red Claw. She also had an uncredited appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210, Season 6, Episode 5 "Lover's Leap" as a doctor.

Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)

Kate Mulgrew with Voyager actresses Roxann Dawson and Jennifer Lien (1995)

In 1995, Mulgrew received a call to take the part of Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager. She had auditioned for the role (originally named "Elizabeth Janeway") when producers announced casting. She initially submitted a video-taped audition, which she made in New York City in August 1994. Unhappy with this audition, she auditioned in person a few weeks later. That day, film actress Geneviève Bujold was selected to play Janeway (suggesting "Nicole" as the character's new first name), but she left the role after two days of filming, realizing that the amount of work required for an episodic television show was too demanding for her. Mulgrew was offered the role, which she accepted, later suggesting "Kathryn" as the character's final first name.[7]

Mulgrew made history in the Star Trek franchise when she became the first female captain as a series regular in a leading role. Voyager was the first show broadcast on the new UPN channel, the only series renewed after the channel's first programming season, and its only show to run for seven seasons, making it UPN's longest running show. Mulgrew won the Saturn Award for "Best TV Actress" in 1998 for her performances as Janeway.

Mulgrew voiced the character of Janeway for various Star Trek video games: Star Trek: Captain's Chair, a virtual-reality tour of various Starfleet vessels for home computers; the Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force series; and Star Trek: Legacy.

About her years on Voyager, Mulgrew said:

I'm proud of it. It was difficult; it was hard work. I'm proud of the work because I think I made some minor difference in women in science. I grew to really love Star Trek: Voyager, and out of a cast of nine, I've made three great friends, I managed to raise two children. I think, "It's good. I used myself well."[8]

Speaking about the best and worst part about playing a Star Trek captain, she said:

The best thing was simply the privilege and the challenge of being able to take a shot at the first female captain, transcending stereotypes that I was very familiar with. I was able to do that in front of millions of viewers. That was a remarkable experience—and it continues to resonate. The downside of that is also that it continues to resonate, and threatens to eclipse all else in one's long career if one does not up the ante and stay at it, in a way that may not ordinarily be necessary. I have to work at changing and constantly reinventing myself in a way that probably would not have happened had Star Trek not come along. I knew that going in, and I think that all of the perks attached to this journey have been really inexpressively great. So the negatives are small.[8]

During Voyager, Mulgrew also played the role of Titania in the animated series Gargoyles (along with fellow Star Trek actors Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes) and Victoria Riddler in Riddler's Moon, a made-for-TV movie.

After Voyager and her subsequent Star Trek appearances finished, Mulgrew has continued to appear at various Star Trek conventions and events around the world.

Mulgrew will return to the role of captain Janeway in upcoming Star Trek: Prodigy.[9]

After Voyager (2001–2012)

Mulgrew (l.) with an early photograph in Prague, 2011

When Voyager came to an end after seven full seasons, Mulgrew returned to theater, and in 2003 starred in a one-woman play called Tea at Five, a monologue reminiscence based on Katharine Hepburn's memoir Me: Stories of My Life. Tea at Five was a critical success and Mulgrew received two awards, one from Carbonell (Best Actress) and the other from Broadway.com (Audience Award for Favorite Solo Performance). Mulgrew kept active in doing voice-over work for video games, most notably voicing the mysterious Flemeth in the Dragon Age video game series, a role she described as "delicious".[10]

Mulgrew returned to television in 2006, guest-starring in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Mulgrew performed in The Exonerated at the Riverside Studios in London, England.

In early 2007, she appeared in the NBC television series The Black Donnellys as Helen Donnelly, which lasted for one season. She also performed the lead role in an off-Broadway production called Our Leading Lady written by Charles Busch in which she earned a nomination from the Drama League for her performance.[11] Also in that year, Mulgrew played Clytemnestra in New York for Charles L. Mee's Iphigenia 2.0. She won the Obie Award for outstanding performance.[12]

In June 2008, Mulgrew appeared in Equus on Broadway, playing Hesther Saloman, a public official who is empathetic toward the play's central character. The play opened on September 5, 2008, for a limited 22-week engagement through February 8, 2009.[13] Also in 2008, Mulgrew filmed the 30-minute courtroom drama The Response, which is based on actual transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay tribunals. It was researched and fully vetted in conjunction with the University of Maryland School of Law and was shot in three days. Mulgrew portrays Colonel Sims and the other cast members, the crew, and she agreed to defer their salaries to cover the production costs. The film has been screened at a number of sites and is available on DVD.[14]

In 2009, Mulgrew appeared in the NBC medical series Mercy, playing the recurring role of Jeannie Flanagan (the mother of the show's lead, Veronica).[15] Released in 2010, the film The Best and Brightest, a comedy based in the world of New York City's elite private kindergartens, featured Mulgrew as the Player's wife.

Mulgrew with Patrick Stewart appearing at Destination Star Trek London in 2012.

Also in 2010, she starred as Cleopatra in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra at Hartford Stage.

In 2011, Mulgrew appeared in the feature-length documentary The Captains. The film, written and directed by William Shatner, follows Shatner as he interviews each of the actors who succeeded him playing a lead-role Starfleet captain within the Star Trek franchise.[16] During that same year, on another science-fiction series, she began a recurring guest-starring role on the third season of the series Warehouse 13, as the mother of one of the main characters.

From July 2011 to December 2013, Mulgrew appeared as a main cast member on Adult Swim's NTSF:SD:SUV:: as Kove, the leader of the titular terrorism-fighting unit and ex-wife of series lead Paul Scheer's character.

The Principle (2014)

In 2014, Mulgrew narrated a documentary film, The Principle, that aims to promote the discredited idea of the geocentric model. Mulgrew said that she was misinformed as to the purpose of the documentary, going on to say "I am not a geocentrist, nor am I in any way a proponent of geocentrism... I do not subscribe to anything Robert Sungenis has written regarding science and history, and had I known of his involvement, would most certainly have avoided this documentary."[17][18]

Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019)

Mulgrew starred as inmate Galina "Red" Reznikov in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, the role for which she was nominated for her first Primetime Emmy Award in 2014. The popular character was re-signed for seasons two through seven. On working in the series, she was reunited with her Mercy co-star Taylor Schilling.

Personal life

At age 18, Mulgrew left her family in Dubuque to study acting in New York. By 1977, she became pregnant while acting in the lead role of Mary Ryan on Ryan's Hope. "I was single, alone, and flooded with terror. But I knew I would have that baby", Mulgrew said. She placed the baby up for adoption three days after giving birth.

Mulgrew married Robert Egan in 1982. They have two children. The couple separated in 1993. Their divorce became final in 1995.[19][20]

Over the years, Mulgrew searched for the daughter she placed for adoption, including hiring a private investigator. "The first man who wanted to explore this with me", said Mulgrew, "was Tim Hagan, who later became my husband".[21] She married Tim Hagan, a former Ohio gubernatorial candidate and a former commissioner of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in April 1999.[22] In an interview on April 15, 2015, Mulgrew stated Hagan and she were divorced, something she regrets.[21]

In 1998, Mulgrew received a call from the daughter she had placed for adoption. Her name was Danielle and she had started searching for Mulgrew the year before. In her 2015 memoir Born with Teeth, referring to her being born with a full set of neonatal teeth, Mulgrew tells of being an unmarried mother who gave up her daughter for adoption during the start of her career, their reunion in 2001, and "the costs and rewards of a passionate life".[23][24][25]

Mulgrew is Catholic.[26] Mulgrew is an opponent of abortion and capital punishment. She received an award from Feminists for Life, a pro-life feminist group. She is quoted as saying "Execution as punishment is barbaric and unnecessary", "Life is sacred to me on all levels", and "Abortion does not compute with my philosophy."[27]

Mulgrew is a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Alzheimer's Association. Her mother, Joan Mulgrew, died on July 27, 2006, after a long battle with the disease.[28]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1981 Lovespell Isolt
1982 A Stranger Is Watching Sharon Martin
1985 Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins Maj. Rayner Fleming
1987 Throw Momma from the Train Margaret Donner
1992 Round Numbers Judith Schweitzer
1994 Camp Nowhere Rachel Prescott
1995 Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys Mrs. Pescoe
2002 Star Trek: Nemesis Admiral Kathryn Janeway Cameo
2004 Star Trek: The Experience - Borg Invasion 4D Admiral Kathryn Janeway
2005 Perception Mary
2008 The Response Colonel Simms Short film
2010 The Best and the Brightest The Player's Wife
2012 Flatland 2: Sphereland Over-Sphere
2013 Drawing Home Edith Morse Robb
2014 The Principle Narrator Documentary

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1975 The Wide World of Mystery Susan Episode: "Alien Lover"
1975–1978 Ryan's Hope Mary Ryan Fenelli 409 episodes
1976 The American Woman: Portraits of Courage Deborah Sampson Television movie
1978 The Word Tony Nicholson Television movie
Dallas Garnet McGee Episode: "Triangle"
1979 Jennifer: A Woman's Story Joan Russell Television movie
1979–1980 Mrs. Columbo Kate Callahan Columbo 13 episodes
1980 A Time for Miracles Mother Elizabeth Bayley Seton Television movie
1981 The Manions of America Rachel Clement 3 episodes
1984 Jessie Maureen McLaughlin Episode: "McLaughlin's Flame"
1986 St. Elsewhere Helen O'Casey 2 episodes
Cheers Janet Eldridge 3 episodes
Carly Mills Carly Mills Television movie
My Town Laura Adams Television movie
1987 Roses Are for the Rich Kendall Murphy Television movie
Hotel Leslie Chase Episode: "Reservations"
Murder, She Wrote Sonny Greer Episode: "The Corpse Flew First Class"
1988 Roots: The Gift Hattie Carraway Television movie
1988–1989 HeartBeat Dr. Joanne Halloran[29] 18 episodes
1991 Daddy Sarah Watson Television movie
Fatal Friendship Sue Bradley Television movie
1991–1992 Man of the People Mayor Lisbeth Chardin 10 episodes
1992 Murphy Brown Hillary Wheaton Episode: "On the Rocks"
Murder, She Wrote Joanna Rollins Episode: "Ever After"
1992–1995 Batman: The Animated Series Red Claw (voice) 3 episodes
1992 The Pirates of Dark Water Cressa (voice) 4 episodes
1993 For Love and Glory Antonia Doyle Television movie
1994 Murder, She Wrote Maude Gillis Episode: "The Dying Game"
Mighty Max Isis (voice) Episode: "The Mommy's Hand"
1994–1995 Aladdin Queen Hippsodeth (voice) 2 episodes
1995–2001 Star Trek: Voyager Kathryn Janeway 170 episodes
1996 Gargoyles Titania / Anastasia Renard (voice) 3 episodes
Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles Titania (voice) Episode: "For It May Come True"
1998 Riddler's Moon Victoria Riddler Television movie
1999 Star Trek: Voyager Shannon O'Donnel Episode: "11:59". Dual role as one of Kathryn Janeway's ancestors.
2006 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Donna Geysen Episode: "Web"
2007 The Black Donnellys Helen Donnelly 9 episodes
2009–2010 Mercy Mrs. Jeannie Flanagan 10 episodes
2011–2013 Warehouse 13 Jane Lattimer 6 episodes
2011–2013 NTSF:SD:SUV:: Kove 34 episodes
2013–2019 Orange Is the New Black Galina "Red" Reznikov 85 episodes
2015 American Dad! June Rosewood (voice) Episode: "A Star Is Reborn"
I Live with Models Joanna Vermouth Episode: "Editor"
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles General Zera (voice) Episode: "Half Shell Heroes: Blast to the Past"
2017–2018 Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters Dr. C (voice) 15 episodes
2019 Mr. Mercedes Alma Lane 9 episodes
2019–2020 Infinity Train The Cat/Samantha (voice) 6 episodes
2021 Star Trek: Prodigy Kathryn Janeway In production

Theater

Year Title Role Notes
1975 Our Town Emily Webb American Shakespeare Theater, Stratford, Connecticut
1976 Absurd Person Singular Eva Jackson
1977 Uncommon Women and Others Kate Quin Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
1978 Othello Desdemona Hartman Theater Company
1980 Chapter Two Jennie Malone Coachlight Dinner Theater
1981–1982 Another Part of the Forest Regina Hubbard Seattle Repertory Theater
1982 Major Barbara Major Barbara Undershaft Seattle Repertory Theater
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Margaret Syracuse Stage, New York
1983 The Ballad of Soapy Smith Kitty Strong Seattle Repertory Theater
1984 The Philadelphia Story Tracy Lord Alaska Repertory Theater
The Misanthrope Celimene Seattle Repertory Theater
1985 Measure for Measure Isabella Center Theater Group, Los Angeles
1986 Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler Center Theater Group, Los Angeles
The Real Thing Charlotte Center Theater Group, Los Angeles
1987 The Film Society Nan Sinclair The Los Angeles Theater Center
1989 Titus Andronicus Tamora New York Shakespeare Festival
1990 Aristocrats Alice Center Theater Group, Los Angeles
1992 What the Butler Saw Mrs. Prentice La Jolla Playhouse
1993 Black Comedy Clea Roundabout Theater Company, New York
2002 Dear Liar Mrs. Patrick Campbell Youngstown State University
2003 Tea at Five Katharine Hepburn
2004 Tea at Five Katharine Hepburn
Mary Stuart Mary Stuart Classic Stage Company, New York
2005 Tea at Five Katharine Hepburn
2006 The Exonerated Sunny Jacobs Riverside Studios, London, England
2007 Our Leading Lady Laura Keene Manhattan Theater Club at New York City Center
Iphigenia Clytemnestra Signature Theater Company
2008 Farfetched Fables and The Fascinating Foundling Anastasia Project Shaw Reading - The Players Club - New York
The American Dream and The Sandbox Mommy Cherry Lane Theater, New York
2008–2009 Equus Hesther Saloman Broadhurst Theater, New York
2019 The Half-Life of Marie Curie Hertha Ayrton Minetta Lane Theater

Video games

Year Title Role
1997 Star Trek: Captain's Chair Capt. Kathryn Janeway
2000 Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
2002 Run Like Hell Dr. Mek
2003 Lords of EverQuest Lady Kreya
2006 Star Trek: Legacy Admiral Kathryn Janeway
2009 Dragon Age: Origins Flemeth
2011 Dragon Age II
2014 Dragon Age: Inquisition
2017 Augmented Empire Jules Avalon

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Nominated work Result
1980 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress – Television Series Drama Mrs. Columbo Nominated[30]
1992 Tracey Humanitarian Award Herself Murphy Brown Won
1998 Satellite Awards Best Actress – Television Series Drama Star Trek: Voyager Won
Saturn Awards Best Actress on Television Won
1999 Nominated
2000 Nominated
2001 Nominated
2003 Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Solo Performance Tea at Five Nominated
Outer Critics Circle Outstanding Solo Performance Nominated
Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Lead Actress Nominated
2004 Carbonell Awards Best Actress Won
2007 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Our Leading Lady Nominated
2008 Obie Award Outstanding Performance Iphigenia 2.0 Won
2014 Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Orange Is the New Black Won
Satellite Awards Best Cast – Television Series Won
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
2015 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Won[31]
2016 Won[32]
2017 Won
2018 Nominated

Publications

  • Mulgrew, Kate (April 14, 2015). Born with Teeth: A Memoir. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316334310.
  • Mulgrew, Kate (May 21, 2019). How to Forget: A Daughter's Memoir. William Morrow. ISBN 978-0062846815.

References

  1. "Kate Mulgrew Biography, Celebrity Facts and Awards". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  2. Slosberg, Steven (August 2003). "Kate Mulgrew's One-Woman Show". Catholic Digest. Retrieved August 12, 2010 via Totally Kate. Raised in an Irish-Catholic family,...
  3. Viv Groskop (June 13, 2015). "Orange Is the New Black's Kate Mulgrew: 'I don't know why women have plastic surgery'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  4. "Kate Mulgrew". Totally Kate. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  5. Shatner, William (writer, director) (July 22, 2011). The Captains. Epix (Television production). Le Big Boss Productions.
  6. Beauman, Sally (August 5, 1968). "The Emergence of the Sidewalk Cafe". New York. p. 33. Retrieved March 1, 2012 via Google Books.
  7. Meisler, Andy (September 15, 1994). "Real 'Star Trek' Drama: Enlisting New Skipper". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
  8. Spelling, Ian (September–October 2006). "Deep Space Five!". Star Trek Magazine (1): 27.
  9. "Breaking News - Nickelodeon and CBS Studios Announce Kate Mulgrew's Return as Captain Janeway in Upcoming Animated Series "Star Trek: Prodigy"". www.thefutoncritic.com. TheFutonCritic. October 8, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  10. Park, Andrew (September 23, 2009). "Kate Mulgrew talks Dragon Age: Origins". GameSpot. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  11. Lipton, Brian Scott (May 11, 2007). "2007 Drama League Award Winners Announced". Theatre Mania. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  12. "The 2008 Obie Award Winners". The Village Voice. May 20, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  13. Gans, Andrew (June 25, 2008). "Mulgrew Will Join Radcliffe and Griffiths for Broadway's "Equus"". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 20, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  14. "See the Film". Look at the Moon Productions. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  15. Hetrick, Adam (August 31, 2009). "Mulgrew Set for New NBC Hospital Series "Mercy"". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014.
  16. Pascale, Anthony (July 18, 2011). "Exclusive Clips from William Shatner's 'The Captains'". Trekmovie.com.
  17. Arnold, Ben (April 9, 2014). "Kate Mulgrew 'tricked' into narrating film that claims the Sun orbits Earth". Yahoo Movies. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014.
  18. Winograd, David (April 8, 2014). "Star Trek's Kate Mulgrew Says She Was Duped on Film Narration". TIME. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  19. Marshall, John & Levesque, John (October 20, 2002). "Robert Egan is hired as ACT artistic director". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
  20. Winfrey, Lee (September 11, 1996). "Living long and prospering 'Voyager' honors 30 years of 'Star Trek' with special episode". Kansas City Star. p. F1.
  21. Kate Mulgrew Interview April 15, 2015. soundcloud.com. April 15, 2015. Event occurs at 23:20. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  22. Sweeney, Shari M. (February 2000). "Two to Tango". Cleveland Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2012 via Totally Kate.
  23. "'Star Trek' actress Kate Mulgrew to publish memoir". Associated Press, November 7, 2013.
  24. Fallon, Kevin (April 28, 2015). "Kate Mulgrew Bares Her Teeth". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  25. "Kate Mulgrew's quest Archived June 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine". CBS News, April 19, 2015.
  26. Totally Kate. "Catholic Digest". Totallykate.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  27. "Entertainment: Kate Mulgrew, Actor" (PDF). The American Feminist. 7 (4). Winter 2000–2001. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  28. "Joan Mulgrew Remembered". Totally Kate. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  29. Born With Teeth: A Memoir by Kate Mulgrew (2015). p. 190
  30. "Golden Globe Awards: winners and nominees". Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  31. "21st Screen Actors Guild Awards". Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  32. "22nd Screen Actors Guild Award". Retrieved June 6, 2016.
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