Kathleen Wilhoite

Born in Santa Barbara, California on June 29, 1964, almond-eyed 'Kathleen Wilhoite' (qv) grew up there and began singing in her church choir from the first grade. Two years later, she was performing on stage, as part of a back-up choir, with 'The Carpenters' (qv), at the Santa Barbara County Bowl. All the while, she studied piano and songwriting and appeared in her high school's theater productions, such as "The House of Blue Leaves". Kathleen wrote and sang as one of the "Boogie Woogie Bugle Girls", a harmony group inspired by 'The Andrews Sisters' (qv). She also became the youngest member of the Santa Barbara Songwriters Guild (age 16).After high school, Kathleen elected to pursue an acting career, as opposed to music, and enrolled at the USC Drama School. Just a couple of months later, she landed her first movie role in _Private School (1983)_ (qv). Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in a number of film and TV projects as both leads and second leads where her brash sexuality and quirky, unconventional style was eagerly put on display. She appeared noticeably opposite 'Charles Bronson' (qv) in _Murphy's Law (1986)_ (qv), 'Jane Fonda' (qv) in _The Morning After (1986)_ (qv), 'Robert De Niro' (qv) in _Angel Heart (1987)_ (qv), 'Amy Irving' (qv) in _Crossing Delancey (1988)_ (qv), 'Patrick Swayze' (qv) in _Road House (1989)_ (qv), and 'Debra Winger' (qv) and 'Nick Nolte' (qv) in _Everybody Wins (1990)_ (qv), and 'Susan Sarandon' (qv) and Nolte in _Lorenzo's Oil (1992)_ (qv).Kathleen appeared on many of the popular series of the 80's and '90s including "AfterMASH," "Family Ties," "The Jeffersons," "Cagney & Lacey" and "Fame," "Cop Rock," "Twin Peaks," "Quantum Leap," "Mad About You," "Ally McBeal" and "Family Law." While her acting career flourished, she continued to expand her music skills but was dealt with a few setbacks, including a contract with Mercury Records that fell through. After a brief sojourn to Texas to refocus intently on her music, Kathleen returned to the Hollywood rat race and eased back in as a "working actress".A variety of offbeat roles in such movies as _Nurse Betty (2000)_ (qv) and _Pay It Forward (2000)_ (qv) has kept her name active on the credits list for over two decades. She landed a number of challenging roles, including a recurring roles on the law series _L.A. Law (1986)_ (qv) as intellectually disabled assistant Benny's _Adhipathi (1990)_ (qv) likewise girlfriend Rosalie, and the medical series _ER (1994)_ (qv) as troubled, substance abuser Chloe Lewis.In the late 1980s, Kathleen was chosen by cartoonist 'Cathy Guisewite' (qv) to give vocal life to her creation _Cathy (1987)_ (qv) in a series of TV movies. Wilhoite later voiced another cartoon creation, 'Sue Rose' (qv)'s _Pepper Ann (1997)_ (qv) in an animated TV series.Into the millennium, Kathleen's on-camera featured work included the films _Nurse Betty (2000)_ (qv), _Pay It Forward (2000)_ (qv), _Quicksand (2003)_ (qv), _Perfect Opposites (2004)_ (qv), _Firecracker (2005)_ (qv), _Fragments (2008)_ (qv), _Seeking Justice (2011)_ (qv), _Crazy Kind of Love (2013)_ (qv) and _The Ride (2018)_ (qv). In addition to a recurring role on _Gilmore Girls (2000)_ (qv), she had guest parts on "Touched by an Angel," "24," "Boomtown," "Will & Grace," "Charmed," "The Ghost Whisperer," "Boston Legal," "Criminal Minds," "Grey's Anatomy," "Battle Creek," "The OA" and "Yellowstone."Married to record producer/drummer 'David Harte' (qv) and the mother of three children, Kathleen was signed by her husband to his "The Daves" record label (the other "Dave" is booking agent 'David Surnow' (qv)) and released two CDS - "Pitch Like a Girl" (1997) and "Shiva" (2000). In sync with both her edgy acting and music style, she wrote and performed an autobiographical one-woman show, "Stop Yellin'," directed by 'Kathy Najimy' (qv), in which she sings her own music and performs monologues.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net