Katherine Boyer Waterston is a British-American actress renowned for her versatile performances across film, television, and theater.
Born on March 3, 1980, in Westminster, London, she holds dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Her parents are American: her father, Sam Waterston, is an acclaimed actor best known for his long-running role as Jack McCoy on the television series Law & Order, and her mother, Lynn Louisa Woodruff, is a former fashion model.
Although born in London due to her parents’ work commitments at the time, Katherine was primarily raised in Connecticut, where she grew up in an artistic household that frequently exposed her to film and television sets through her father’s career.
She attended the Loomis Chaffee School, graduating in 1998, before pursuing formal training at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting.
Despite initially considering a double major in theater and photography, she focused solely on acting to fully develop her skills.
Siblings
Katherine’s older sister, Elisabeth Waterston, born in 1977, is an actress who has appeared in numerous television shows and films, including roles in Boardwalk Empire and the 2003 film The Rules of Attraction.
Elisabeth has built a steady career in both stage and screen work, often collaborating within the family circle.
Katherine’s younger brother, Graham Waterston, born in 1983, works primarily behind the camera as a director, producer, writer, and crew member on various television and film projects, choosing a less spotlight-focused role compared to his sisters.
Additionally, Katherine has an older half-brother, James Waterston, born in 1969 from her father’s first marriage to Barbara Rutledge Johns, which ended in 1975.
James is also an actor, gaining early recognition for his role as Gerard Pitts in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society and appearing in television series such as The Good Wife and The Blacklist.
He co-founded the Malaparte Theater Company in the 1990s alongside notable actors like Ethan Hawke.
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Career
Waterston made her professional stage debut in 2003 with the play Smashing and continued with productions like Los Angeles in 2007 and Adam Rapp’s Kindness in 2008.
Her Off-Broadway work gained traction in 2010 with the role of Gena in Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette, and in 2011, she portrayed Anya in a revival of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at the Classic Stage Company.
On screen, Waterston debuted in a small role in the 2007 legal thriller Michael Clayton, directed by Tony Gilroy and starring George Clooney, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
That same year, she landed her first lead in the independent drama The Babysitters alongside John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon.
Early supporting roles followed in films like Enter Nowhere (2011), Being Flynn (2012) with Robert De Niro, and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2013).
Her breakthrough came in 2014 with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, where she played Shasta Fay Hepworth opposite Joaquin Phoenix, earning widespread critical praise for her bold performance in the neo-noir comedy-drama.
This led to higher-profile projects, including Queen of Earth (2015) and the role of Chrisann Brennan in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs (2015), starring Michael Fassbender.
Waterston entered the blockbuster arena as Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), reprising the role in The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), part of the Harry Potter prequel series directed by David Yates.
She portrayed Daniels in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant (2017) and Sarah in Steven Soderbergh’s heist comedy Logan Lucky (2017).
On television, she had recurring roles in Boardwalk Empire (2010-2012) as Emma Harrow and appeared in The Blacklist (2013), Quantico (2017), the Gossip Girl reboot (2021), and the miniseries The Third Day (2020) opposite Jude Law.
More recently, she starred in the HBO series Perry Mason (2020) and the Paramount+ spy thriller The Agency (2024) alongside Michael Fassbender, which was renewed for a second season.
In 2025, Waterston joined Paul Greengrass’s untitled film for Focus Features, co-starring with Andrew Garfield.
Accolades
Waterston’s bold portrayal in Inherent Vice (2014) garnered nominations from several critics’ groups, including the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture and the Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress.
For her ensemble work in the same film, she shared in the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cast (Robert Altman Award) in 2015, an honor that celebrates outstanding collaborative performances.
In 2016, Waterston received a Chlotrudis Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Queen of Earth.
Her work in the Fantastic Beasts series led to a Teen Choice Award nomination in 2017 for Choice Fantasy Movie Actress.
More recently, for her role in the 2023 film Past Lives, she was nominated for Best Supporting Performance at the British Independent Film Awards.
Additionally, the cast of Past Lives, including Waterston, earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2023.
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