Kathy Baker

Katherine Whitton "Kathy" Baker is an American stage, film, and TV actress.

Biography
Baker was born as Katherine Whitton Baker in Midland, Texas, on June 8, 1950. She was the daughter of John Seawand and Helene Andree Baker, both of whom were Quakers. Raised in New Mexico, she started acting at the age of ten, but because of her religious upbringing, acting was not a viable profession for her at the time. Influenced by her French-born mother, Baker enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in French upon graduation in 1977. From there, she traveled to Paris to study haute cuisine at the famed Cordon Bleu and then returned to the U.S. with the original intention to work as a pastry chef. However, she still held a desire to act and eventually joined San Francisco's Magic Theatre. There, she appeared in the play The Man Who Killed the Buddha and gave a performance that attracted the attention of playwright Sam Shepard. At the Magic Theatre, under the stage name of Kathy Whitton Baker, Shepard cast her in a leading role in one of his new plays, which was called Fool for Love, in 1983. The premiere received exceptional reviews and the play went to New York. She and costar Ed Harris, won Obie Awards in 1984 for their acclaimed performances, as did playwright Shepard for his direction of the play. The production itself won the Obie Award for "Best New American Play". That same year, Kathy made a strong movie debut in The Right Stuff, in which she starred as the wife of astronaut Alan Shepard.

Baker continued to appear on the New York stage both in the 1984 play Desire Under the Elms and as a replacement for the Lemon character in the Obie Award-winning Aunt Dan and Lemon in 1986. Later on, Baker starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Christopher Reeve in the drama film Street Smart. Baker received a number of awards and plaudits for her performance in the film, gaining awards from the National Society of Critics and Boston Society of Critics. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Kathy continued to perform in feature films as Clean and Sober, Permanent Record, Jacknife, and Edward Scissorhands. When the 1990s arrived, however, Baker's movie roles became less frequent or noteworthy. As a result, she decided to focus outside her medium of choice and actively search for roles on television. Baker appeared in Picket Fences, where she took on the role of small town mother and doctor Jill Brock. The show ran for four seasons, during which she was nominated for an Emmy Award each year for her performance, winning three out of four of the nominations for the "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" award. When the 21st century arrived, Baker starred in Cold Mountain and The Jane Austen Book Club, while on television, she and Helen Mirren costarred in Door to Door. In 2001, she joined the cast of Boston Public.

On Criminal Minds
Baker portrayed criminal accomplice Linda Collins in the Season Seven episode A Family Affair.

Filmography

 * Big Time in Hollywood, FL (2013) as Diana
 * Saving Mr. Banks (2013) as Tommie
 * The Party Is Over (2012) as Appoline
 * Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (2012) as Rose Gammon
 * Criminal Minds - A Family Affair (2012) TV episode - Linda Collins
 * Big Miracle (2012) as Ruth McGraw
 * Against the Wall (2011) as Sheila Kowalski (13 episodes)
 * Machine Gun Preacher (2011) as Daisy
 * Seven Days in Utopia (2011) as Mabel
 * Too Big to Fail (2011) as Wendy Paulson
 * Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (2011) as Rose Gammon
 * Good Day for It (2011) as Rose Carter
 * Take Shelter (2011) as Sarah
 * Chicken on a Pizza (2010) as Teresa (short)
 * Medium (2005-2010) as Marjorie Dubois (5 episodes)
 * Miss Nobody (2010) as Claire McKinney
 * Jesse Stone: No Remorse (2010) as Rose Gammon
 * Law & Order (2010) as Camille Peterson
 * Unstable (2009) as Betty Walker
 * Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2009) as Camille Hayes-Fitzgerald
 * Saving Grace (2009) as Maggie (2 episodes)
 * Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009) as Rose Gammon
 * Last Chance Harvey (2008) as Jean
 * Shades of Ray (2008) as Janet Rehman
 * Grey's Anatomy (2008) as Anna Loomis (2 episodes)
 * The Cleaner (2008) as Paula Gibbons
 * Babylon Fields (2007) as Shirley Wunch
 * The Jane Austen Book Club (2007) as Bernadette
 * Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007) as Rose Gammon
 * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2007) as Hannah Curtis
 * Gilmore Girls (2007) as Mia
 * All the King's Men (2006) as Mrs. Burden
 * Nip/Tuck (2005) as Gail Pollack (2 episodes)
 * Fathers and Sons (2005) as Nora
 * Spring Break Shark Attack (2005) as Mary Jones
 * Nine Lives (2005) as Camille
 * Jack & Bobby (2004) as Carol Bryson
 * Sucker Free City (2004) as Cleo Wade
 * 13 Going on 30 (2004) as Bev Rink
 * Monk (2004) as Sylvia Fairbourn
 * Cold Mountain (2003) as Sally Swanger
 * Frankie and Johnny Are Married (2003) as Kathy Baker
 * Assassination Tango (2002) as Maggie
 * Ten Tiny Love Stories (2002) as Ten
 * A Family's Decision (2002) as Susan Freeman
 * Door to Door (2002) as Gladys Sullivan
 * Boston Public (2001-2002) as Meredith Peters (14 episodes)
 * The Guardian (2002) as Janine McGregor
 * The Glass House (2001) as Nancy Ryan
 * Sanctuary (2001) as Aunt Kate
 * Gideon's Crossing (2001) as Jane Kagen
 * Bull (2000) as Virginia Blackstone
 * Ratz (2000) as Doris Trowbridge/Regina Lee Savage
 * Chicago Hope (2000) as Mary Wyzinski
 * Touched by an Angel (2000) as Ellen
 * Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) as Rose (segments "Someone For Rose" and "Fantasies about Rebecca")
 * A Season for Miracles (1999) as Ruth Doyle
 * Hey Arnold! (1999) as Dr. Bliss (voice)
 * Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story (1999) as Janice Danner
 * A Little Inside (1999) as Nancy
 * The Cider House Rules (1999) as Nurse Angela
 * ATF (1999) as ATF Director Maggie Hale
 * The Practice (1998) as Evelyn Mayfield (2 episodes)
 * Oklahoma City: A Survivor's Story (1998) as Priscilla Salyers
 * Ally McBeal (1997) as Katherine Dawson
 * Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997) as Margo Powers
 * Not in This Town (1997) as Tammy Schnitzer
 * Gun (1997) as Dora Hochfelder
 * Inventing the Abbotts (1997) as Helen Holt
 * To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996) as Esther Wheeler
 * Picket Fences (1992-1996) as Dr. Jill Brock (87 episodes)
 * Lush Life (1993) as Janice Oliver
 * Mad Dog and Glory (1993) as Lee
 * Jennifer Eight (1992) as Margie Ross
 * Article 99 (1992) as Dr. Diana Walton
 * One Special Victory (1991) as Ellen
 * Edward Scissorhands (1990) as Joyce
 * Mister Frost (1990) as Dr. Sarah Day
 * The Image (1990) as Marcie Guilford
 * Marked for Murder (1989) as Exotic Dancer (video, uncredited)
 * Dad (1989) as Annie
 * Jacknife (1989) as Martha Flannigan
 * Clean and Sober (1988) as Charlie Standers
 * Permanent Record (1988) as Martha Sinclair
 * Mariah (1987) as Ariel Serra
 * Street Smart (1987) as Punchy
 * Amazing Stories (1987) as Charlene "Charlie" Benton
 * Nobody's Child (1986) as Lucy Stavros
 * A Killing Affair (1986) as Maggie Gresham
 * The Right Stuff (1983) as Louise Shepard

PRODUCER

 * The Party Is Over (2012) - Executive Producer

LINKS
For an up-to-date filmography, see here.