From small roles to big, this Katharine's getting raves

Interview, Feb, 2002 by Guy Lesser

Katharine Towne admits that her family is "so L.A.," her mother wanted to name her Catalina. And that growing up, having spent a lot of time on movie sets with her father, screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown, 1974; Shampoo, 1975), people assumed she would follow in his footsteps.

But at 18, Katharine Towne knew writing's "misery of sifting in a room alone with your brain" wasn't for her. So, when her penchant for wisecracks and dark wit proved no more an asset to waitressing than it had to high school, she decided it was time to take up acting--booking her very first audition, a bit part in 1999's Girl.

In the years since, Towne has racked up a number of small roles in big films, including What Lies Beneath (2000), with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, Town & Countty (with Dad's pal Warren Beatty), Ivan Reitman's Evolution and the forthcoming Sweet Home Alabama, with Reese Witherspoon; but word is it's her starring role in the upcoming independent So! Goode, opposite Balthazar Getty, that will be her breakthrough.

And what wisdom did her father's circle impart during her childhood? Not much. They were just "the weird old dudes my dad hung around with--I wanted to meet Christian Slater."