Kathryn Susan Morris (born January 28, 1969) is an American actress, best known for her lead role as Detective
Lilly Rush in the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
series ''
Cold Case
''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...
''.
Early and personal life
Kathryn Susan Morris was born on January 28, 1969 in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Ohio.
She grew up
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
in
Windsor Locks, Connecticut
Windsor Locks is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was ...
, with her parents, Stanley, a
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
scholar, and Joyce, an insurance agent,
and five siblings before moving away. From age 6 to 17, Morris and her family traveled the southern '
Bible Belt
The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States and the Midwestern state of Missouri (which also has significant Southern influence), where evangelical Protestantism exerts a strong social and cultural influence. The region has been de ...
' as a gospel group called 'The Morris Code'. The group was mainly made up of Morris's father and three (out of five) of her siblings.
She attended two colleges in the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
tri-state area
Tri-state area is an informal term in the United States which can refer to any of multiple areas that lie across three states. When referring to populated areas, the term implies a shared economy or culture among the area's residents, typically c ...
, Northeastern Christian Junior College and
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...
. After studying theatre in high school, she was involved in a hit-and-run collision while on her way to her first acting gig, a Japanese music video based on the musical ''
Grease''. She still made it to the gig and that's when she knew she was going to be an actress.
Morris was in a relationship with actor
Johnny Messner. On April 8, 2013, Morris announced they were expecting twins. She gave birth to twin boys, who were diagnosed with
autism
Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...
when they were three years old. In October 2021, Morris launched ''The Savants'': an initiative to "revolutionize how the world lives on and off the spectrum".
Career
Morris's first role was a minor one in the 1991 tele-movie ''Long Road Home''. Several other small parts followed, including a bit part as a psychiatric patient in the Oscar-winning ''
As Good as It Gets
''As Good as It Gets'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by James L. Brooks from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Andrus. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt ...
''. Her breakthrough role came as Lt. Annalisa "Stinger" Lindstrom in the television series ''
Pensacola: Wings of Gold'' in 1997 for two seasons. Morris continued to work in films (notably ones directed by
Rod Lurie
Rod Lurie (; born May 15, 1962) is an American director, screenwriter, producer and former film critic.
Early life and career
The son of internationally syndicated cartoonist Ranan Lurie, he was born in Israel but moved to the United States at a ...
) and had a brief stint on the ''
Xena
Xena is a fictional character from the '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' franchise, portrayed by New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless and co-created by Robert Tapert and John Schulian. She first appeared as a villain in the 1995–1999 television serie ...
'' series in 1999 as
Najara.
After seeing her in the film ''
The Contender'' (which DreamWorks distributed),
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
cast her in two successive films. Her scenes as a rock star in ''
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' (or simply ''A.I.'') is a 2001 American science fiction drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay by Spielberg and screen story by Ian Watson are loosely based on the 1969 short story " Supertoy ...
'', which required Morris to take intensive singing and guitar lessons were cut from the film by the director, which was particularly agonizing for her. In ''
Minority Report'', she portrayed the tormented wife of
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...
's character.
[Spielberg: Don't Hate Me](_blank)
from the June 24, 2002, column by Marc S. Malkin in ''New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
''[Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...]
''. She also appeared in the 2004 films ''
'' (2007). Morris appeared in the film ''
'' which was distributed in 2011. In 2012, Morris appeared in the
.