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Kim Victoria Cattrall (born August 21, 1956 in Liverpool) is an Anglo-Canadian actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City. The role earned her an Emmy Award nomination and the Golden Globe Award.

Childhood

Her mother, Shane Cattrall, was a housewife; her father, Dennis Cattrall, was a construction worker. Cattrall has three siblings. When she was less than a year old, her family emigrated to Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada. When her grandmother became ill, she returned to England at the age of 11. During this time she took lessons at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Career

Cattrall began her career at age 16 when she left home to live alone in New York City. There, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and upon her graduation signed a five-year movie deal with director Otto Preminger. A year later, Universal Studios bought out that contract and Cattrall became one of the last participants of the Universal Contract Player System. During her time with Universal, she guest starred in numerous television programmes of varying style and genre. Her work in television paid off, and she quickly made the transition to cinema. She starred opposite Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-nominated movie Tribute in 1980. The following year, she starred in the critically acclaimed Ticket to Heaven.

In 1982, Cattrall played Miss Honeywell in Porky's, followed two years later with a role in the original Police Academy. During 1985, she starred in three movies: Turk 182, City Limits and Hold-Up. In 1987, her lead role in Mannequin proved a huge success with audiences. One of her most well-known film roles is that of Lieutenant Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Aside from her film work, Cattrall is also a stage and theatre actress, with performances in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. In 1997, she was cast in Sex and the City, Darren Star's series that was broadcast on HBO. As Samantha Jones, Cattrall gained international recognition. She capitalised on her success as Samantha by appearing in steamy television commercials promoting the Pepsi product Pepsi One. She also signed a publishing deal to write a book about sex with her third husband, Mark Levinson. In addition, she can be heard reading the poetry of Rupert Brooke on the CD Red Rose Music SACD Sampler Volume One.

Her film work continued during Sex and the City, when she starred as Caroline in Britney Spears' first film venture, Crossroads. Reports claim that Cattrall's high financial demands and a strained relationship with co-star Sarah Jessica Parker are responsible for the end of Sex and the City, but whatever the cause, Cattrall played Samantha for the last time in Spring 2004. In 2005 she appeared in the Disney picture Ice Princess, where she played the character of Tina Harwood, the ice skating coach of the film's lead character. Unfortunately, Ice Princess was not a financial success. She also portrayed Claire, a paralysed woman who wants to die, in the West End drama revival of Whose Life Is It Anyway. In early 2006 it was reported that Cattrall will soon join the cast of Desperate Housewives, playing Edie's (Nicollette Sheridan) wild sister. She is currently appearing in a West End production of The Cryptogram. Since late 2005, she has appeared in a number of British television commercials for Tetley Tea.[1] In July 2006, a commercial for Nissan cars, which featured Kim in her Samantha character from Sex and the City, was withdrawn from New Zealand television, apparently because of complaints about the innuendo.[2]

Personal life

Cattrall has been married three times: to Larry Davis; Andre J. Lyson, whom she divorced in 1989; and Mark Levinson, whom she divorced in 2004. She was previously engaged to actor Daniel Benzali. At age 25, she briefly dated the former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She dated the much-younger Canadian chef Alan Wyse (over two decades her junior) from the summer of 2004 to 2005. She is currently involved with her Whose Life is it Anyway? co-star Alexander Siddig [3] best known for his role as Dr. Julian Bashir on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Trivia

• Because of an erroneous entry in the Internet Movie Database, it is often believed that Cattrall's birth name was "Clare Woodgate". This is, in fact, the birth name of British actress Georgina Cates. In the January 2 edition of The Observer newspaper, an interview with Cattrall repeated the "Clare Woodgate" mistruth. The Observer later published a correction stating that, "Our interview ... was wrong to repeat a website which said [Cattrall] was born in Liverpool in 1956 'as plain Clare Woodgate'. She was born to Shane and Dennis Cattrall in Liverpool as Kim Victoria Cattrall. Apologies."
• Rumored not to have gotten along with co-star Sarah Jessica Parker while shooting Sex and the City over money and fame issues. However, at Parker's 40th birthday party, the two ended the feud and made up.
• Posed for FHM men's magazine at the age of 45.
• The character Crow T. Robot, from the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, has a running gag of having a crush on Cattrall.

Credits

External links

• KIM CATTRALL Unofficial UK-Based Fansite
• The Observer: "A lot of guys my age are terrified of me"
• Kim Cattrall article at Canadians in the movies

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