Katherine Waterston
Birthdate: Mar 3, 1980
Birthplace: Westminster, London, England, UK
Katherine Waterston (birthname: Katherine Boyer Waterston) is a highly regarded British-American actor who has worked with some of the best English-language filmmakers, including Kelly Reichardt, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, Alex Ross Perry, Mona Fastvold, Danny Boyle, David Yates, Ridley Scott, and Tony Gilroy, with whom she made her big-screen debut in the drama Michael Clayton (2007), starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton (winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar), and Sydney Pollack, nominated for seven Oscars and grossing a healthy $93 million for Summit/Warner Bros. Waterston landed her first co-starring role in writer-director David Ross’s indie drama, The Babysitters (2007), with John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon, and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
Waterston appeared in a supporting role in Ang Lee-directed comedy-drama, Taking Woodstock (2009), premiering at the Cannes Film Festival to generally poor reviews and proving a box-office bust for Focus Features, and then Waterston co-starred with Scott Eastwood and Sara Paxton in director-producer Jack Heller’s time travel paradox drama written by Shawn Christensen and Jason Dolan, Enter Nowhere (2011), released by Lionsgate.
Waterston took on a supporting role in director/writer Jake Schreier’s comedy-drama, Robot & Frank (2012), co-starring Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Peter Sarsgaard, James Marsden, and Liv Tyler, winning the Alfred P. Sloan Science Award at the Sundance Film Festival where it premiered and earning a decent $5 million return for distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Katherine Waterston joined the cast of the indie thriller, The Letter (2012), written and directed by Jay Anania, with Winona Ryder, James Franco, Dagmara Dominczyk, Josh Hamilton, and Marin Ireland, and then Waterston appeared in another indie, the Nick Flynn memoir
Being Flynn (2012) by writer/director Paul Weitz starring Robert De Niro, Paul Dano (as Flynn), Julianne Moore, Lili Taylor, Olivia Thirlby, and Wes Studi, and released by Focus Features. Waterston stepped aboard filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s and co-writer Jonathan Raymond’s dramatic environmentalist thriller, Night Moves (2013), co-starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, and James LeGros, and premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival before release by Cinedigm.
Waterston was cast in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2013), one in a trilogy (subtitled “Him,” “Her” and “Them”) of movies by debut filmmaker Ned Benson, and co-starring Jessica Chastain, James McEvoy, Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Ciaran Hinds, Isabelle Huppert, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and released by The Weinstein Company.
Waterston was cast by indie filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice (2014), his second in a series of movies either based on or influenced by the novels of the great American writer, Thomas Pynchon, starring (Oscar-nominated) Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Eric Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, and Martin Short, premiering at the New York Film Festival and released by Warner Bros.
Katherine Waterston had a small role in director/writer Leslye Headland’s indie rom-com, Sleeping with Other People (2015), co-starring Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Adam Scott, Adam Brody, and Amanda Peet, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before an IFC Films release. Then Waterston co-starred in Alex Ross Perry’s stark psychological drama, Queen of Earth (2015), starring Elisabeth Moss (who also produced with Perry), Patrick Fugit, Kentucker Audley, and Kate Lyn Shiel, and released by IFC Films after its Berlin Film Festival premiere.
Waterston joined the striking cast of Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels in director/producer Danny Boyle’s biopic Steve Jobs (2015), written by Aaron Sorkin from Walter Isaacson’s biography of the same title, released by Universal Pictures to poor box office after its Telluride Film Festival premiere.
Waterston was cast in her first franchise role as Tina Goldstein in a successive series of J.K. Rowling-written Fantastic Beasts movies directed by David Yates and starring Eddie Redmayne: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016); Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018); Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), earning a combined $1.87 billion return against a combined $600 million expenses. Waterston joined director/producer Ridley Scott for his second Alien prequel series installment, Alien: Covenant (2017), starring Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Demain Bichir, earning a mediocre $241 million against $111 million expenses.
Katherine Waterston collaborated with another major filmmaker when joining director Steven Soderbergh for the heist comedy, Logan Lucky (2017), with Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Dwight Yoakum, Sebastian Stan, Hilary Swank, and Daniel Craig, grossing $48.5 million for Soderbergh’s own distribution company, Fingerprint Releasing and Bleecker Street. Waterston played opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, and Tom Holland in the much-delayed period drama,
The Current War (2017), directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and then Waterston co-starred in State Like Sleep (2018), directed and written by Meredith Danluck, and with Michael Shannon and Luke Evans, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival before a release by The Orchard.
Waterston played a supporting role in writer/director Jonah Hill’s autobiographical movie, Mid90s (2018), co-starring Sunny Suljic and Lucas Hedges, earning a strong $9.3 million (against $1.7 million) for A24, and then Waterston landed one of her richest roles in the
Mona Fastvold-directed drama about two pioneer wives falling in love with each other, The World to Come (2020), co-starring Vanessa Kirby, Christopher Abbott, and Casey Affleck, and which premiered at the Venice Film Festival (where it won the Queer Lion prize) before a Bleecker Street release. Waterston was part of the vast cast of Babylon (2022), written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and starring Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Brad Pitt, Jean Smart, and Li Jun Li, opening to disastrous box office ($63 million returns against $80 million-plus costs) for Paramount Pictures.
Katherine Waterston delivered a supporting performance in the thriller, Asphalt City (2023), co-starring Tye Sheridan and Sean Penn (who also produced) under Jean-Stephane Sauvaire’s direction and released by Roadside Attractions and Vertical.
Then Waterston co-starred in the ecological disaster film, The End We Start From (2023), directed by Mahalia Belo and written by Alice Birch, and co-starring Jodie Comer, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Strong, and distributed by Signature Entertainment, after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Waterston signed up with writer/director Chris Weitz for his topical sci-fi horror movie for Columbia Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, Afraid (2024), starring John Cho, Havana Rose Liu, and Keith Carradine, and released by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Waterston’s busy lineup of movies continued with the drama, Park Avenue (2025), with Fiona Shaw and Didi Conn under co-writer Gaby Dellal’s direction, followed by the British period comedy, Fackham Hall (date to be announced), starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Thomasin McKenzie, and directed by Jim O’Hanlon and co-written and co-produced by Jimmy and Patrick Carr.
Waterston jumped into the horror movie pool with Fear Street: Prom Queen (date to be announced), directed and co-written by Matt Palmer, and then Waterston led the cast of Tim Sutton-directed thriller, Floodplain (date to be announced), starring Ben Foster and Maria Bakalova, followed by director/writer Rob Sorrenti’s British drama, Angels in the Asylum (date to be announced), co-starring Minnie Driver, Simon Pegg, Cush Jumbo, and Miriam Margolyes.
Personal Details
Katherine Waterston was born in London, England, and was raised in Connecticut by parents Lynn (model) and actor Sam Waterston. Waterston has one sister, Elisabeth, and one brother, Graham. Waterston has a paternal half-brother, James. Waterston attended and graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Acting. Waterston studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio. Waterston has been in a six-year relationship with playwright/director Adam Rapp. Waterston had a son in 2019. Waterston’s height is 5’ 11”. Waterston’s estimated net worth is $1 million.
Known For
Awards
Nominee, Best Supporting Performance, British Independent Film Awards (2023); Winner, Robert Altman Award, Independent Spirit Awards (2015); Nominee, Best Motion Picture Cast, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2023).
Robert Altman Award
Film Independent Spirit Awards
Actor
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Filmography
actor
Upcoming (1)
Previous (23)
- 2024 |
- 2024 | Asphalt City
Asphalt City
Ollie Cross is a young paramedic assigned to the NYC night shift with an uncompromising and seasoned partner Gene Rutkovsky. Each 911 call is often dangerous and uncertain, putting their lives on the line every day to help others.
- 2022 | Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Professor Albus Dumbledore must assist Newt Scamander and his partners as Grindelwald begins to lead an army to eliminate all Muggles.
- 2021 |
- 2021 | The World to Come
The World to Come
Somewhere along the mid-19th century American East Coast frontier, two neighboring couples battle hardship and isolation, witnessed by a splendid yet testing landscape, challenging them both physically and psychologically.
- 2017 | The Current War
- 2019 | State Like Sleep
State Like Sleep
A woman grapples with the consequences of her celebrity husband's double life after he commits suicide.
- 2018 | Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
The second installment of the "Fantastic Beasts" series featuring the adventures of Magizoologist Newt Scamander.
- 2018 |
- 2017 | Alien: Covenant
Alien: Covenant
The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.
- 2016 | Fluidic
- 2016 | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.
- 2015 | And It Was Good
- 2015 | Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.
- 2015 | Queen of Earth
- 2014 | Are You Joking?
- 2014 | Glass Chin
- 2014 | Inherent Vice
- 2013 | Night Moves
- 2012 | The Factory
- 2012 | The Letter
- 2011 | Enter Nowhere
- 2008 | Good Dick
Some Facts About Katherine Waterston
Dual Citizen: Katherine Waterston is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom (due to birthplace) and the United States (due to paternity).
Trans Ally: Waterston has been an outspoken advocate for transgender rights, and because of her performances in multiple Fantastic Beasts movies, has strongly denounced creator J.K. Rowling’s many public anti-trans statements and slurs, which have resulted in considerable damage to Rowling’s brand.
Tall: Katherine Waterston is an especially tall female actor, at 5’ 11”, partly due to her having an extra lumbar vertebra.
