Kate Mulgrew

Katherine Kiernan Mulgrew, or Kate Mulgrew, was born on April 29, 1955. She grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, the oldest girl in an Irish Catholic family of eight. When Kate, as a 12-year-old, expressed an interest in acting, her mother, Joan, brought home biographies of great actresses and sent Kate to summer acting schools. At age 17, she left home and traveled to New York City to study acting. At New York University, she was accepted into Stella Adler's Conservatory. At the end of her junior year, she left the university to commit herself full time to her craft. Her early career included portraying Mary Ryan for two years on the ABC soap opera Ryan's Hope (1975) while also playing the role of Emily in the American Shakespeare Theatre production of "Our Town" in Stratford, Connecticut. When Kate was only 23, she played Kate Columbo in a series created especially for her, Mrs. Columbo (1979). In this series, she was playing the wife of one of television's most beloved detectives, Lt. Columbo.