Katherine Louise Diana Amess ( ; born 19 July 1985) is an English actress and model. She has appeared in many British television commercials and has had several film and television roles.

Early life and education

Amess was born on 19 July 1985 in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, the second of five children and the eldest of four daughters of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

David Amess David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and his wife Julia Arnold. She attended St Anne Line Primary School in Basildon before going to the

Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School (BUCHS) is an 11–18 girls, Roman Catholic, secondary school and mixed sixth form with academy status in Brentwood, Essex, England. It was established in 1900 and is an Ursuline school. It is located in ...

in Brentwood, Essex, and finally St Bernard's High School in

Westcliff-on-Sea Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff) is an inner city area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 m ...

, Essex. She went on to study Drama at

Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

and the

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

in London.

Career

Amess competed in several British beauty pageants and won the title of Miss Essex 2008 for the

Miss Earth 2008 Miss Earth 2008, the 8th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, was held on November 9, 2008, at the Clark Expo Amphitheater in Angeles City, Philippines. Eighty-five delegates arrived from 19 October 2008 in Philippines. The pageant was broadcas ...

contest. In the same year she also became a finalist for the

Miss England Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants ...

competition. She has appeared in a host of television commercials including for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

and ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...

''. She appeared as

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conra ...

in two national commercials. She has appeared on various television shows in the UK including ''

Funny Cuts ''Funny Cuts'' is a television programme strand on E4 which started on 7 July 2006. It features up and coming comedy talent. In its first episode it features Internet sensation Social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet include ...

'' on E4 and ''Dream Team''. In 2013, Amess signed on to play a lead in the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

parody ''Miserable Lesbians'' in New York and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The show was adapted from the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-winning ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' and attracted global attention due to the issues of

homosexual marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

and sex equality it raised. Amess reprised her role of Courgette (aka

Cosette Cosette () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an u ...

) from an earlier 2013 short-film version in support of homosexual rights of ''Miserable Lesbians'' for the "Toscars" at the

Grauman's Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chines ...

in Hollywood which saw the film sweep the boards, winning 8 out of 10 awards presented by

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in ''King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes fo ...

. She was cast as Lulu in

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in t ...

's version of

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

's '' The Birthday Party'' at The Geffen Playhouse alongside

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the "Brit Pack (actors), Brit Pack". He made hi ...

, Steven Berkoff,

David O'Hara David Patrick O'Hara (born 9 July 1965) is a Scottish stage and character actor. A graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, he is best known to audiences for his numerous supporting roles in high-profile films; includ ...

Frances Barber Frances Barber (née Brookes, born 13 May 1958) is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays '' Camille'' (1985), and ''Uncle Vanya'' (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gar ...

and

Nick Ullett Nicholas Metson Ullett (born 5 March 1941) is a British-born American actor. For a number of years, he was part of a comedy duo with Tony Hendra. Filmography * '' Call of Duty: Finest Hour'' (2004) (VG) (voice) (as Nick Ullet) * ''Yes, Dear'' ( ...

. She went on to play Ulcie in the closing week of

Rolin Jones Rolin B. Jones (born September 22, 1972) is an American playwright and television writer. His plays include ''The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow'', for which he was a 2006 Pulitzer Prize finalist, and ''Sovereignty.'' His work in television in ...

' ''These Paper Bullets'' at the same theatre in 2015. Amess played Brenda Dixon in

Ray Cooney Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, '' Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 ...

's ''Cash on Delivery'', alongside Cooney himself in December 2015. The performance received positive reviews: "The ensemble .under Cooney's keen direction are all great ..Katie Amess as Norman's innocent, confused fiancee Brenda. There is not a flaw, not a missed cue. No one stands above anyone else. Cooney as director has gleaned a perfect sense of timing from the entire cast". "The equally looks-blessed Meire, Arcilla, and Amess prove themselves all three expert comediennes ..Amess's delightful but dim Brenda match sthe male costars every step of the way". In 2016, she appeared in the film '' Captain America: Civil War''. In 2017, she played Kendall Nagel in ''

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and Sandy Weeks in ''

Criminal Minds Beyond Borders ''Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders'' is an American police procedural television series created by Erica Messer that aired on CBS from March 16, 2016, to May 17, 2017. The show is produced by The Mark Gordon Company in association with CBS Televi ...

'' Season 2 also on CBS. In February 2022, it was reported that she had agreed to continue her late father's work mentoring children considering politics by becoming the patron of the UK's Children's Parliament.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amess, Katie 1985 births 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Essex Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama English female models English television actresses Living people People educated at Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School People from Basildon