Kathryn Morris is an American actress, best known for her lead role as Detective Lilly Rush in the

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 ...

series ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...

''.

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-drama film directed by James L. Brooks, who co-wrote it with Mark Andrus. The film stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted, and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as ...

''. 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 ( he, רוד לוריא; born May 15, 1962) is an Israeli-American director, screenwriter, and former film critic. Early life and career The son of internationally syndicated cartoonist Ranan Lurie, he was born in Israel but moved to ...

) and had a brief stint on the ''

Xena Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' franchise. Co-created by Tapert and John Schulian, she first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', before going on to ...

'' series in 1999 as Najara. After seeing her in the film '' The Contender'' (which DreamWorks distributed), Steven Spielberg cast her in two successive films. Her scenes as a rock star in '' A.I.: Artificial Intelligence'', 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), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...

's character.Spielberg: Don't Hate Me
from the June 24, 2002 column by Marc S. Malkin in '' New York''Parade'' magazine In 2003, Morris won the lead role of detective Lilly Rush in the

dramatic series ''

''. She also appeared in the 2004 films ''

Mindhunters ''Mindhunters'' is a 2004 crime slasher film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Kathryn Morris, LL Cool J, Jonny Lee Miller, Patricia Velásquez, Clifton Collins Jr., Christian Slater, and Val Kilmer. It was written by Wayne Kramer and Kev ...

'' and ''

Paycheck A paycheck, also spelled paycheque, pay check or pay cheque, is traditionally a paper document (a cheque) issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by ...

'', opposite

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...

, and more recently as the journalist wife of

Josh Hartnett Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor and producer. He first came to attention in 1997 for his role as Michael Fitzgerald in the television crime drama series '' Cracker''. He made his feature film debut in 1998 in th ...

in Lurie's drama '' Resurrecting the Champ'' (2007). Morris appeared in the film ''

Cougars, Inc. ''Cougars, Inc.'', developed under the title ''Mother's Little Helpers'' and displayed in the title shot as ''Cougars Inc.'', is an American independent film, independent comedy written and directed by Asher Levin about a college-age teenager, pla ...

'' which was distributed in 2011. In 2012, Morris appeared the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...

movie ''

The Sweeter Side of Life ''The Sweeter Side of Life'' is a 2013 American made-for-television romantic comedy film starring Kathryn Morris and James Best. The film was co-written and co-produced by Michael Damian and his wife Janeen Damian. ''The Sweeter Side of Life'' i ...

'', a

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

Personal life

Morris was born in 1969 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio. She grew up Christian in

Windsor Locks, Connecticut Windsor Locks is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 12,613. It is the site of Bradley International Airport, which serves the Greater Hartford-Springfield region and occupies approxi ...

with her parents, Stanley, a

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

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 in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's a ...

' as a gospel group called 'The Morris Code'. The group was mainly made up of Kathryn's father and three (out of five) of her siblings. She attended two colleges in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

area, Northeastern Christian Junior College and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

. 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. On April 8, 2013, Morris announced that she and her partner Johnny Messner were expecting twins. She gave birth to twin boys, Jameson and Rocco. Jameson and Rocco were diagnosed with autism when they were 3 years old. In October 2021, Morris launched ''The Savants''; an initiative to "revolutionize how the world lives on and off the spectrum".

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Kathryn Actresses from Cincinnati American film actresses American television actresses Living people Temple University alumni 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Ohio Valley University alumni People from Windsor Locks, Connecticut Year of birth missing (living people) People from Cincinnati