Katherine Kelly Lang (born Katherine Kelly Wegeman; July 25, 1961) is an American actress. She is best known for playing
Brooke Logan in the
CBS soap opera ''
The Bold and the Beautiful'' of the
CBS Daytime programming block.
Early life
Lang was born in
Hollywood,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, and graduated from
Beverly Hills High School. She is the daughter of Olympic ski jumper
Keith R. Wegeman, a
German-American
German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry.
According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...
and actress Judith Lang, an
Anglo-American and the granddaughter of
Oscar-winning cinematographer Charles Lang.
Career
Lang made her acting debut in the film ''
Skatetown, U.S.A.'' (1979), alongside
Scott Baio,
Maureen McCormick, and
Patrick Swayze. That was followed by guest roles in numerous television series such as ''
The Powers of Matthew Star'', ''
Masquerade'', ''
Riptide'', ''
Magnum, P.I.'', ''
Happy Days
''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...
'', ''
The Fall Guy'' and ''
1st & Ten''. Lang starred in the 1996 television film ''Subliminal Seduction''. In 1985, she appeared in four
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s:
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
's "
There's No Way" (where she played the love interest of Alabama lead singer Randy Owen)
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...
' "
Getcha Back" and its sequel "
It's Gettin' Late" and The Medflys' "Compulsive" for a band from her childhood hometown, Carmel CA.
In 1987, Lang was offered the role of blue-collar
Brooke Logan on the
CBS soap opera ''
The Bold and the Beautiful'' for the
CBS Daytime programming block, and has been an integral part of the program ever since. Her love affair with
Ridge Forrester (originally played by
Ronn Moss, and since 2013 by
Thorsten Kaye) has been a key
story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing narrative, storyline in episode, episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strip ...
for 35 years, and a love triangle among Brooke, Ridge and
Taylor (Originally played by
Hunter Tylo and later
Krista Allen and
Rebecca Budig) stretched over more than thirty years starting with Taylor's entrance to the show in 1990. The show's 5,000th episode included only the four core characters: Brooke, Ridge, Stephanie and Eric.
As of February 2015, Lang is one of only two actors to be on ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' throughout the series. The other is
John McCook, who portrays
Eric Forrester.
In 1999, she appeared as Brooke in ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...
'', interacting with
Eric Braeden
Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-American film and television actor, known for his roles as Victor Newman (fictional character), Victor Newman (from 1980) on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', as H ...
(Victor),
Peter Bergman (Jack), and
Eileen Davidson (Ashley). Lang previously appeared on ''The Young and the Restless'' as Gretchen in 1981, and returned to the soap, for a brief stint, in July 2007. Her work as Brooke has been recognized with seven
Soap Opera Digest Award nominations, beginning in 1991 and most recently in 2005.
In 2016, Lang made a special guest appearance as herself in the Australian soap opera ''
Neighbours
''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
'' on
10 Peach. In January 2019, she returned to Australian television as a contestant on ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' for
season 5. In October 2019 she made a guest appearance on the Greek soap opera "8 lexeis" for SKAI TV. She played Grace Heart, a reporter who traveled from New York, to Corfu, Greece, only that was not her true identity!
Personal life
Lang has been married twice. She is the mother of three children from her two marriages: her two sons Jeremy Skott Snider (born 1990), Julian Lang Snider (born 1992) from her then husband Skott Snider, and her daughter Zoe Katrina D'Andrea (born 1997) from her then husband Alex D'Andrea, and has a stepdaughter, Danyelle D'Andrea (born 1991).
On November 11, 2012, it was announced that Lang had filed for divorce, after 15 years of marriage citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in June 2014.
In May 2018, she became a grandmother with the birth of her granddaughter, Zuma, via her daughter Zoe.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Katherine Kelly
1961 births
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Hollywood, Los Angeles
American film actresses
American soap opera actresses
American television actresses
American people of German descent
American people of English descent
Beverly Hills High School alumni
Living people