It’s an impression that people don’t frequently have at first meeting, but rest assured, Kat McNamara means business. “I have a very cheery personality and I’m often very bubbly. A lot of people, before they get to know me, can think that’s all there is,” she says. “That there’s not a level of intelligence or a level of seriousness or a level of badassery or even a level of darkness that can exist. That’s a misconception people have about me.”
Raised in Missouri, McNamara, the only child in a family of scientists and doctors, had dreams of becoming an economist. “I was a huge math nerd, and I loved school,” she says. “But I was also a dancer, and I had been doing that since I was a kid.” Her passion for dance led a family friend to cast her in a community theatre production when she was 12. The role was small, but it was enough for McNamara to realize her true calling as a performer. “I had one of those rare moments of clarity where I stepped on stage on opening night and I knew I was put on this earth to tell stories,” she says. “It hit me like a brick wall.”
She graduated from high school four years early and enrolled at the University of Missouri, Kansas City as a theatre major. But when she booked her first job, a Broadway musical in New York City opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, McNamara was faced with a choice: She could either drop out of college, which didn’t allow theatre students to work professionally while in school, or she could change her major. And so she went back to finance, which became her saving grace in Hollywood. “A lot of actors will listen to whatever their attorneys have to say,” she says. “But because I know what everything means, I tend to have plenty of questions on every contract to say, ‘Wait. What does this mean? What does this do? What are the implications of this down the road?’”
I don't want special
treatment for any reason.
Not because I'm young,
not because I'm an actor,
not because I'm a woman.
It’s an impression that people don’t frequently have at first meeting, but rest assured, Kat McNamara means business. “I have a very cheery personality and I’m often very bubbly. A lot of people, before they get to know me, can think that’s all there is,” she says. “That there’s not a level of intelligence or a level of seriousness or a level of badassery or even a level of darkness that can exist. That’s a misconception people have about me.”
Raised in Missouri, McNamara, the only child in a family of scientists and doctors, had dreams of becoming an economist. “I was a huge math nerd, and I loved school,” she says. “But I was also a dancer, and I had been doing that since I was a kid.” Her passion for dance led a family friend to cast her in a community theatre production when she was 12. The role was small, but it was enough for McNamara to realize her true calling as a performer. “I had one of those rare moments of clarity where I stepped on stage on opening night and I knew I was put on this earth to tell stories,” she says. “It hit me like a brick wall.”
She graduated from high school four years early and enrolled at the University of Missouri, Kansas City as a theatre major. But when she booked her first job, a Broadway musical in New York City opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, McNamara was faced with a choice: She could either drop out of college, which didn’t allow theatre students to work professionally while in school, or she could change her major. And so she went back to finance, which became her saving grace in Hollywood. “A lot of actors will listen to whatever their attorneys have to say,” she says. “But because I know what everything means, I tend to have plenty of questions on every contract to say, ‘Wait. What does this mean? What does this do? What are the implications of this down the road?’”
I don't want special
treatment for any reason.
Not because I'm young,
not because I'm actor,
not because I'm a woman.