Welcome back, my Little Monsters. It’s Wednesday again, and of course you all know what that means. It’s time to shine a spotlight on another one of our wonderful Women of Horror. Who’s today’s talented lady? You’ve already read it in the title, but just for the hell of it I’ll type it again. Today’s talented lady is Katharine Isabelle (flutters eye lashes and swoons).
Ms. Isabelle, born Katharine Isobel Murray, hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1989, an 8 year old Katie Murray kicked off her acting career appearing in five movies (one made for TV) and an episode of MacGyver. In 1991 she began going by the name Katharine Isobel, thus edging much closer towards her current moniker.
Her journey towards the macabre began with roles on television shows like Ray Bradbury Theater, Goosebumps and The X-FIles. She would make her first film appearance in the horror genre, as Lindsay Clark in the 1998 film, Disturbing Behavior. And while this role did get her some attention from audiences, it would be two years later that she would land a role she could really sink her teeth into. Her portrayal of Ginger Fitzgerald, in Ginger Snaps is definitely the one that would make genre fans take notice. Katharine has gone on to appear in two further Ginger Snaps movies: Ginger Snaps 2:Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. Other notable horror films in which she has appeared include: Bones, Freddy vs. Jason, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, American Mary (my personal favorite of her films), 13 Eerie, See No Evil 2. She has also appeared on Supernatural and was a series regular on Being Human, Endgame and Hannibal.
Katharine is definitely a steady worker, with well over 100 credits on her resume. However, like many actors or actresses, there are some titles on that resume that be may no more than a paycheck. In an article for the Huffington Post, Katharine admitted, “there’s probably several roles I could have lived without doing. I’m a working actor, so I do pretty much whatever comes along because it’s my job.”
But while sometimes one does what one has to in order to have a job, there is one thing she adamantly will not compromise on – nude scenes. Katharine has a strict no nudes policy for the roles she takes, and for any role that has required such exposure, a body double has been employed. In one instance, it put her at odds with Ronny Yu, the director of Freddy vs. Jason, when he failed to notify her the part would require her to appear nude. But, quite admirably, she stuck to her guns and refused to bare anything for the movie.
What few may know is that despite her involvement in horror films, she is not a huge fan of the genre. It’s not that she dislikes the genre, because she does have an appreciation for horror classics. In the aforementioned interview Katharine explained her feelings about horror films when she said, “It’s not that I’m not a fan; it’s that I’m a little bit chicken. My heart rate goes up and my throat closes and I have anxiety for two hours after. So I tend to stay away.”
Now I know some people would question why she would choose to act in such films if that’s how she feels. Well, it just so happens that she gave a very reasonable explanation when she said, “Shooting a horror movie is completely different than watching one that you have nothing to do with…(Acting in a film), I know what’s happening. I’m laughing at what we’re doing behind the scenes. Those are easy to watch. And they’re really fun to shoot.”
Let’s hope that she still feels that horror movies are fun to make, because she has been noticeably absent from the genre since her brief appearance in The Girl in the Photographs (2015). This year Katharine has been working on the series The Arrangement and also appeared in an episode of Rosewood.
Now it just so happens that Katharine has become a good friend of Jen and Sylvia, The Soska Sisters, having worked with them on past projects. Given that little tidbit of info, you can probably guess where I’m headed here. YEP…I think it’s time for Jen, Sylvia and Katharine to team up again for some more bloody good horror. Perhaps a horror franchise of some sort featuring a truly bad-ass female antagonist. Get at me ladies, we can brainstorm and hash out an idea. OK, enough delusions of grandeur.
A few years back, at Horrorhound Weekend in Indianapolis, I had the opportunity to meet Katharine. And as has been the case before, I found her to be equally as sweet and kind as she is beautiful. With any luck I will be fortunate enough to meet her again.
As per usual, my Little Monsters, should you wish to find out any more about Katharine, you can check out her official IMDb page. To keep up with what’s going on with Katharine, you can also give her a follow at Twitter and Instagram. In the immortal word of Raymond Chandler, “To say goodbye is to die a little”. So instead , I will say fare thee well until next Wednesday , my Little Monsters.
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