Katherine Moennig

29 Dec, 1977 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Actress

Biography

Katherine Sian Moennig is an American actress known for her role as Shane McCutcheon on The L Word, as well as Jake Pratt on Young Americans. She currently stars as Dr. Miranda Foster on CBS Three Rivers. Personal life Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is the daughter of Broadway dancer Mary Zahn and violin maker William Moennig. She is also the niece of actress Blythe Danner and cousin of Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow. Moennig is of German, Scottish and Irish descent. Although there has been much speculation surrounding Moennig's sexual orientation due to the on-screen lesbian and genderqueer roles she has taken, Moenning refuses to talk about her sexuality because she says that having a personal life is a sacred thing in Hollywood. However, the New York Post's Page Six reported sighting Moennig accompanied by Francesca Gregorini in April 2005 at a party for Paper Magazine's Beautiful People issue., and her L Word costar Jennifer Beals also muddied the issue in an interview with The Advocate in which Beals cited Moennig along with several out lesbians as advisors on Beals' portrayal of Bette Porter. A rumour that Moennig dated Clementine Ford after their collaboration in The L Word was denied by Ford in a Diva Magazine interview in 2009. Moennig has several tattoos: the number 2 (her life number in numerology) on her right ring finger, a small red square on her left hand, a "cross" on her left wrist (which was previously the letter "K"), a swallow on her right triceps (she got it after having a dream that she had a tattoo of a bird on her right triceps), audere est facere ("to dare is to do" in Latin) on her left triceps, what appears to be ivy along her right side, "Mary" (in honor of her mother) on her right inner forearm, and the outline of a violin with an "M" for Moennig inside (which she got the day after her father died, in his honor). Career Moennig moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. There she began a modeling career, and also performed on stage. In 1999, she had the central role in the Our Lady Peace video "Is Anybody Home?" Her first major role was in the television series Young Americans, playing Jake Pratt, a girl who enters the Rawley Boys Academy by passing as a boy and ends up falling in love with Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder), the Dean's son. Moennig has played many lesbian roles. Best known for her portrayal of Shane McCutcheon on The L Word, she also appeared as a lesbian artist—a former lover of Sophia Myles' character—in Terry Zwigoff's 2006 Art School Confidential. Moennig has also pursued trangender roles. She auditioned for the part of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry, which ended up going to actress Hilary Swank, and played Cheryl Avery, a young transsexual woman, in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (episode "Fallacy"). On April 12, 2006, Moennig made her Off Broadway debut, opposite Lee Pace, in Guardians, by Peter Morris. In it, she plays "American Girl"—a young United States Army soldier from West Virginia who becomes a scapegoat in a scandal involving abuse at an Iraqi prison. The story is loosely based on that of Lynndie England. In 2008, Moennig played the role of Mary Landis, a suspect in season 6 episode 19 of CSI:Miami In 2009, Moennig joins the casts of Three Rivers, a new medical drama, which premiered on CBS, on October 4, 2009 and airs Sundays at 9 PM Eastern Time. The series is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at a hospital specializing in transplants. Moennig plays as Dr. Miranda Foster, a surgical fellow with a rebellious streak and fiery temper  who strives to live up to her deceased father's excellent surgical reputation.