My Take
Kate Mulgrew is one of those actors who earns your respect without ever asking for it — she just commands the room, or in her most iconic role, the bridge. Growing up in Dubuque, Iowa and training at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, she had serious craft baked in from the start, and it shows in everything she touches. As Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager she became the first woman to lead a Trek series as its central character, and she played it with such unshowy authority that it never felt like a milestone — it just felt right. Then she pivoted completely to play the terrifying, tender Red in Orange Is the New Black and reminded everyone that she could do grit and vulnerability in equal measure. TV, film, stage, voice work — she moves across all of it without breaking a sweat, and that Audie Award for narrating her own memoir is a nice cherry on top.
Overview
Katherine Kiernan Maria Mulgrew (born April 29, 1955) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager and Red in Orange Is the New Black. She first came to attention in the role of Mary Ryan in the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Kate Mulgrew
- Name (Japanese)
- ケイト・マルグルー
- Reading
- けいと・まるぐるー
- Born
- April 29, 1955 (age 71)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Taurus / Goat
- Origin
- Dubuque, Iowa, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / stage actor / voice actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Wahlert Catholic High School
- University
- New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Awards & achievements
- Audie Award for Narration by the Author or Authors
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.