Katherine Heigl is an American actress and producer. She began her career with guest-starring roles in television shows, and had her first leading role in the TV series "Grey's Anatomy" (2005–) playing the character of Dr. Izzie Stevens.
Katherine Heigl was born on March 20, 1982 in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Nancy Heigl, a former soap opera actress who appeared in "The Young and the Restless" from 1981 to 1987, and director David Heigl.
She has one older brother, Oliver, who is also an actor
Read more
She attended Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles, California where she was voted "Most Likely to Become a Page One Model" by her class. While attending high school, she won several awards for her acting performance in productions put on by the high school's theatre department.
Katherine graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in 2000. She attended Tufts University for a semester but left before graduating.
She said that she was not ready to get serious about school at the time because she wanted to pursue acting professionally.
During her junior year at Tufts University, Heigl was cast as the lead in Disney Channel's Joss Whedon production "Dude, Where's My Car?" (2000–01). The film did not air until after Heigl had graduated from Tufts University. After graduating from Tufts University with a BFA degree in drama, Heigl moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.
Her first television appearance was on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996–2005), when she played Dina Manzo during two episodes of season nine (1999) when Robert Downey Jr.'s character's father dies. She also appeared in "The West Wing" (1999–2006), playing guest roles in three episodes: "The Long Goodbye," which aired on January 10, 2002; "The Briefing," which aired on June 17, 2002; and "Boys of Summer," which aired on December 2, 2002.
She then began starring in the NBC comedy series "DUKE", playing Dr. Karen Murphy beginning with the episode "Doctor Beavis", which premiered on May 6, 2003 (2003).
In 2005, she made her film debut with the action thriller film "Charlie Bartlett", followed by supporting roles in films such as "New York I Love You", "Sweet Home Alabama", and "
