Katherine Moennig

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**Katherine Moennig**
Born:	December 29, 1976 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation:	Actress

Katherine Sian Moennig (born December 29, 1976) is an American actor.

1 Personal life
2 Career
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Personal life

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is the daughter of Broadway dancer and violin maker William Moennig. She is also the niece of actress Blythe Danner and cousin of Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow, who she says is very different from herself.

Although there has been much speculation surrounding Moennig's sexual orientation due to the on-screen lesbian and transgender roles she has taken, in a 2000 interview with Rebecca Traister of the New York Observer Moennig revealed herself to be heterosexual.^[1]

However, it seems that Jennifer Beals may have outed Moennig during her interview with the The Advocate while discussing The L Word: "...oftentimes I will go [to] Leisha or Kate or Ilene or Rose Troche and ask, 'OK, is this the right thing to do? Is this not the right thing to do? Am I going to seem like a total chump if I do this?'"

[edit] Career

Katherine Moennig as Shane McCutcheon in the television series The L Word.

Moennig moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. There she began a modeling career, and also performed on stage.

In 1999, she had the central role of the Our Lady Peace video, "Is Anybody Home?"

Her first major role was in the television series Young Americans, playing Jacqueline "Jake" Pratt, a girl who enters the Rawley Boys Academy by passing as a boy and ends up falling in love with Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder), the Dean's son. Her androgynous look helped her a lot for this role. She also auditioned for the part of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry - that ended up going to actress Hillary Swank. She played the part of pre-op MTF Cheryl Avery in Law & Order: SVU (episode "Fallacy").

Beginning in 2004, Moennig has played one of the main characters in The L Word. Her character is Shane McCutcheon, a hairdresser and heartbreaker who goes from one girl to another. This trend appeared to end with her long-term, disastrous relationship with character Carmen de la Pica Morales (Sarah Shahi), but at the end of Season 3, Shane left Carmen at the altar, raising questions as to whether she will be capable of settling down, or whether she will return to her old ways once again.

On April 12, 2006, Moennig made her Off-Broadway debut in Guardians, a play by Peter Morris. In it, she plays "American Girl" - a young United States Army soldier from West Virginia who becomes a scapegoat in a scandal involving abuse at an Iraqi prison. The story is loosely based on that of Lynndie England.

Moennig had a minor role in the 2006 film Art School Confidential as Candace, the ex-girlfriend of Audrey, the art model who serves as a love interest for protagonist Jerome.