Katharine Isabelle (born Katherine Isobel Murray; November 2, 1981) is a Canadian actress who is considered one of the modern "scream queens" after appearing in movies such as the Ginger Snaps trilogy, Bones (with Snoop Dogg), American Mary, and Freddy vs. Jason and TV shows like Goosebumps (1995), The X-Files, Supernatural, and Hannibal. She also played a supporting role in Christopher Nolan's Insomnia.
Her friends and family call her "Katie".
Tropes associated with her works:
- All Girls Like Ponies: She has two rescue horses, and loves horses in general. Ironically, she's allergic, so she has to wear masks around them. She's said that if she wasn't an actress, she'd be a horse trainer.
- Awesome, Dear Boy: She was so keen to do American Mary that she went to her father to "make sure I wasn't crazy for loving this".
- Creator Backlash: She disliked Freddy vs. Jason, in no small part because she had a rocky relationship with director Ronny Yu. She wanted to play the lead character, but Ronny thought she would be better as the best friend Gibb, without telling her that there would be a nude scene. Katharine was very adamant about not doing nudity (they ultimately used a body double), which caused tension between them.
- Dawson Casting: She was 22 playing a high schooler in Carrie (2002). Gibb in Freddy vs. Jason's age isn't stated, but she's implied to be younger than Katharine's 23 when she played her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Many of her characters feature an acerbic wit, most notably the ever-sarcastic Vera Stone.
- Fake American: In American Mary, Carrie (2002), and Freddy vs. Jason.
- Fake Shemp: As she refuses to do nude scenes, it's a body double for Freddy vs. Jason. She likewise used a body double for Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning and Engaged To Kill.
- Irony: She's considered a scream queen thanks to her roles in Ginger Snaps, Freddy vs. Jason, American Mary, Carrie (2002), Torment, etc. She's terrified of horror films in real life, and has said there are scenes in American Mary she wasn't able to watch.
- Real-Life Relative: Her brother Joshua Murray is an actor too, and they've starred together in three different films.
- Reality Subtext: Regarding Ginger Snaps, there are a lot of coincidental similarities between her and co-star Emily Perkins. They were born in the same hospital, attended the same schools, were represented by the same talent agency and auditioned on the same day.
- Stage Mom: Subverted. Despite starting acting at the age of five, she has affirmed her mother was very supportive and prevented her from doing roles that might traumatise her or be difficult to film. Her father was a director likewise, and she initially just helped out on set rather than had a desire to be famous.
- Stage Names: She doesn't go by her last name Murray (though she did early in her career) because fans would try to phone her. Isobel is her middle name, after her grandmother. But they discovered she was actually 'Isabelle' and it was just spelt wrong on her birth certificate, so she spells it that way as a stage name.
- Those Two Actors: She and Emily Perkins have starred in Ginger Snaps and Another Cinderella Story (as sisters both times) - while also appearing in separate episodes of The X-Files and Supernatural. Emily even makes a cameo appearance in Insomnia, in which Katharine plays a supporting role.
- What Could Have Been: One role she really wanted was The Aviator, but she jokes that she knew she'd bombed as soon as she left the room.
