Kathy Bates

In 2003, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer which she successfully overcame. In 2012, she underwent double mastectomy to treat breast cancer which she was diagnosed with in July 2012.

Kathy Bates was born as Kathleen Doyle ‘Kathy’ Bates to Bertye Kathleen and Langdon Doyle Bates. While her mother was a homemaker, her father was employed as a mechanical engineer. She was the youngest of the three daughters born to the couple.

She completed her formal education from White Station High School. It was while at school that she discovered her hidden talent and affinity for acting. With an aim to make a career out of her talent, she enrolled at the Southern Methodist University.

She graduated from the university in 1969 majoring in theatre and drama. At university, she was a prominent member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority

Completing her education, she moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. Meanwhile, she took up odd jobs in the city to survive a living. From working as a singing waiter in a famous resort to working as a cashier at the New York’s museum, she did not shy away from menial works.

She first secured a role for herself opposite Christopher Walken at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre in Lanford Wilson's world premiere of ‘Lemon Sky’. However, to her dismay, the show relocated to New York’s off-Broadway Playhouse Theatre without her.

Not the one to be disheartened quickly, she did not give up. By the mid-1970s, she gained a name for herself and a rising popularity among the New York’s regional theatre scene by some exceptional performance in shows like, ‘Casserole’ and ‘A Quality of Mercy’.

Meanwhile, she made a foray into the big screen with the film ‘Taking Off’. However, she was wrongly credited as Bobo Bates.

Continuing in theatre, it was her performance as Joanne in the theatre show, ‘Vanities’ that proclaimed her to fame. The show highlighted her acting prowess and immense talent as a performer.

In her four and a half decades of career, she has won numerous prestigious awards in various categories. Some of the prominent awards won by her include, Academy Award, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, American Comedy Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards and so on.

Other than acting and directing, she chairs the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.