Cold Case

Background:

“She’s a very modern woman who’s capable of breaking down walls but remains very much a part of the team. She can be feminine and powerful at the same time. She doesn’t have to work the system or pile on the lip gloss to get ahead. Yet she’s not perfect. There are difficulties in her relationships.” Kathryn Morris on her role in “Cold Case”

First coming to fame as the helicopter pilot Annalisa “Stinger” Lindstrom on “Pensacola: Wings of Gold” (1997-1998) and for playing the vulnerable villain Najara on the well-liked series “Xena: Warrior Princess” (1998-1999), American actress of television and film Kathryn Morris has acted in a number of TV films and made guest appearances in many series before acquiring TV stardom as Detective Lilly Rush on the hit cop drama “Cold Case” (CBS, 2003-present). Her TV movies credits include her debut, “The Long Road Home” (1991), “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” (1994), “W.E.I.R.D. World” (1995), “The Inferno” (1998), “Inherit the Wind” (1999), “Hell Swarm” (2000) and “The Hire: Hostage” (2002). As a movie actress, Morris, who kicked off her film career with Vanilla Ice's vehicle, “Cool as Ice” (1991), is probably best remembered as Tom Cruise's wife in the Steven Spielberg-directed “Minority Report” (2002). She is known for her collaboration with filmmaker Rod Lurie, who cast the beautiful actress in such vehicles as “Deterrence” (1999), “The Contender” (2000) and more recently, “Resurrecting the Champ” (2007), with Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett. Other films in which she has acted in include the horror “Sleepstalker: The Sandman’s Last Rites” (1995), the Oscar-winning “As Good as it Gets” (1997), Spielberg's “Artificial Intelligence: AI” (2001), John Woo's “Paycheck” (2003) and “Mindhunters” (2004).

Moviegoers should look forward for Morris' fine acting in the upcoming film “Assassination of a High School President” (2008), with Bruce Willis.

As for her personal life, the 5-feet-7-inch Cincinnati-born beauty is now engaged to Randy Hamilton, a financial advisor, with whom she shares a home in the hills above L.A. She said, “... we’re engaged and trying to figure out when we can find time for a wedding,” She practices yoga and also does a lot of running and walking to keep in shape.

Touring Life

Childhood and Family:

Kathryn Morris was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 28, 1969. As a child, she traveled throughout the country with her close-knit family in a gospel singing group called Morris Code. They finally settled in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, in which Kathryn grew up in the Churches of Christ religion along with her 6 siblings. In the early 1990s, she attended Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Minority Report

Career:

In her youth, Kathryn Morris got an extensive experience of performing on the stage as a part of her family's gospel singing group. She later switched into theater and started to improve her acting talents. Before long, the Connecticut-bred girl decided to professionally pursue a career in acting. Her big break arrived in 1991 when she landed a small part in the made-for-TV film “The Long Road Home,” starring Mark Harmon. Later that same year, she made her motion picture acting debut as Jen on “Cool as Ice,” a calamitous vehicle for 15-minute rap sensation Vanilla Ice which was directed by David Kellogg.

Morris then disappeared for a while and when she returned in 1994, she made three TV films. In the sport-themed “Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story,” Morris costarred with Peter Berg as Angela, while in the NBC drama/war film “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All,” she supported Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, Cicely Tyson, Anne Bancroft and Blythe Danner. She also appeared with Tori Spelling in “A Friend To Die For,” a Catholic school attacker. The following years,

she went on to appear in TV films like the Fox horror anthology “W.E.I.R.D. World” (1995) and UPN's “Family Values” (1995), in which she became a member of a trailer park family fudging the system, and such films as “Sleepstalker: The Sandman’s Last Rites” (1995), a horror/thriller starring Michael Harris as a serial killer named “The Sandman,” and James L. Brooks' “As Good as it Gets” (1997), where she supported Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt as a psychiatric patient.

Following guest spots in such TV series as “Murder, She Wrote” (as Doreen the Waitress), “L.A. Firefighters” (as Helen Regan), “Silk Stalkings” (all 1996) and “Poltergeist: The Legacy” (1997)., Morris' TV career gained real impetus when she won the regular role of Lt. Annalisa “Stinger” Lindstrom on the syndicated naval drama “Pensacola: Wings of Gold,” along side James Brolin. As a helicopter pilot, she played the role for two seasons during 1997-1998. She received additional fame and a devoted fans with her next appearance in the hit fantasy adventure series “Xena: Warrior Princess” (1998-1999), in which Morris was cast as Najara, the undefended villain warrior.

Before the 90s were over, the industrious player made several other films and TV films. These included the horror “The Prophecy II” (1998), “The Inferno” (1998, TV), “Inherit the Wind” (1999, TV), opposite Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott and Beau Bridges, and the indie-drama “Screenplay” (1999). However, she is perhaps most known for playing Mark Thompson's wife, Lizzie Woods, in the nuclear war thriller “Deterrence” (1999), directed and written by Rod Lurie and starring Kevin Pollak and Timothy Hutton.

A starring role opposite Boyd Kestner in the horror television film “Hell Swarm” (UPN, 2000) became Morris' opening work in the new millennium. She then reprised her “Murder: She Wrote” character in the made-for-TV film “Murder: She Wrote: A Story to Die For” (CBS, also 2000) and reunited with director Rod Lurie later that same year in “The Contender,” playing the small role of a federal agent named Paige Willomina. The political masterpiece starred Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater and Sam Elliott. 2001 saw Morris enjoy small roles in such films as Steven Spielberg's “Artificial Intelligence: AI,” opposite Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Sam Robards, Frances O'Connor, Scott Bakula's drama flick “Role of a Lifetime,” and Rod Lurie's “The Last Castle,” with Robert Reford, James Gandolfini and Mark Ruffalo, in which her scenes ended in the cutting room floor. The same year, she also appeared as Sandy in two episodes of the HBO series “The Mind of a Married Man.”

It was in the following year that Morris eventually scored her genuine break when she was cast as the glorious, impulsive estranged wife of Tom Cruise in the Oscar nominee “Minority Report,” which was directed by Steven Spielberg. The acclaimed action/drama also featured then-newcomer Colin Farrell and Dame Judi Dench. Still in 2002, she starred as a kidnap victim in the John Woo-helmed telepic “The Hire: Hostage” (HBO), but it was her next TV assignment that made the actress a real TV star. In 2003, Morris was cast in her breakout role as the only female detective, Lilly Rush, on the CBS crime series “Cold Case” (2003-present). The show was soon a hit and won three consecutive ASCAP for Top TV Series in 2004 to 2006, among other honors.

Together with the new, regular prime-time presentation, Morris also found herself appearing with Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman in the blockbuster “Paycheck” (2003), again directed by John Woo. The next year, she offered a memorable performance opposite Val Kilmer, LL Cool J and Christian Slater in “Mindhunters” (2004), playing Sara Moore. More recently, she returned to the bog screen to star with Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett in “Resurrecting the Champ” (2007), the new boxing film by Rod Lurie.

The adorable actress will be cast along side Bruce Willis and Mischa Barton on the comedy film “Assassination of a High School President” (2008), directed by Brett Simon and jointly written by Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski.

Awards:
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