Catherine moved to NYC to pursue an acting career in 2008. After a couple auditions, she realized that she had zero audition technique, and basically no idea what the heck she was doing in general, so she got her little booty over to a conservatory training program uptown. Three years later she received her MFA in Acting from Columbia University, where she was stupid lucky and got to work with Kristin Linklater, Andrei Serban, Olympia Dukakis, Larry Singer, and many many others who helped her build a foundation as a performer. She jumped coasts in 2011 and began working primarily in commercials and voiceover in LA. Along the way, Catherine fine-tuned her on camera skills with Jameson Hasse, discovered a delightful connection to her inner sense of play with John Gilkey and Joseph Pearlman, and, perhaps most poignantly in her artistic evolution, studied and assisted the late Sam Christensen at his studio in Burbank from 2012-2018.

Catherine recognizes the unique situation actors find themselves post-2020, with self-tapes and at home studio equipment being the present and likely the future. She values the time-saving perks that have come from the shift from room to zoom, but also deeply misses being in auditions and callbacks with other humans. Some of her favorite people ever are the casting directors and associates she used to see regularly in LA who always put her at ease before switching on the camera, always reminded her that “Great to see you again!” Without these advocates in the same space with her when she puts herself on tape, and because her dining room is now the space where she regularly bears her soul while her husband/reader stifles his laughter (he’s a saint, for real), Catherine has spent the last couple of years rebuilding her pre-audition ritual. It’s a blend of technique plus imagination. And it’s put a twinkle back in her eye, which is something you can’t fake no matter your talent or experience.

Rapidly changing demands on actors in 2023 have inspired Catherine to share what she’s learned in 10 years of eye twinkling. Her vision is to inspire her colleagues to find the things that put a twinkle back in their eye, regardless of who else is in the room when they’re doing what they came to this planet to do: play.

Learn more about Catherine’s introductory online course:

In the Zoom Zoom Room: Self-tape Rituals That Ignite

Catherine resides in Albuquerque, NM, with her husband and two teeny children.