Katie Holmes was born on December 18, 1978, by the name Kate Noelle Holmes. Her mother was a philanthropist and homemaker, while her father was a lawyer. Katie Holmes was the youngest of five children and was baptized a Roman Catholic. She attended the Notre Dame Academy, where she was straight-A student and where she garnered a score of 1310 on her SAT, which eventually gave way to her acceptance to Columbia University.

Katie Holmes started acting in school plays during her high school days. At age fourteen Katie went to a talent expo and soon found herself an agent. After sending an audition tape to the casting director for the film ‘The Ice Storm’ (1997), she landed in the role of Libbets Casey. She was then offered the lead role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but she refused. Columbia Tri-Star television also invited her to another audition, but she was not able to come because she was doing a school play at that time. She was allowed to send an audition tape instead, which paved way for her most notable role to date, as Joey Potter, in the would be hit series, Dawson's Creek.

In 1998, during the first year of Dawson’s Creek, Holmes was able to do two movies – the 1998 thriller “Disturbing Behavior” and 1999’s “Go”. In the 1999 MTV Movie Awards, she won “Best Breakthrough Female Performance” for her role in Disturbing Behavior. The following year, she starred in the Michael Douglas film “Wonder Boys”.

Her character as Joey Potter led her to be one of the most vibrant and determined young actresses on television, as she exhibited the realities girls her age were experiencing while growing up. She also worked on more films including Teaching Mrs. Tingle, and Phone Booth, which also starred actor Colin Farrell. These roles were more of training for Holmes' acting prowess, as she landed in equally diverse characters very different from the Dawson's Creek role she was known for. In 2004, Katie starred on the lead role in First Daughter, followed by Batman Begins in 2005.

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