Mary Kathleen Gordon

MaryKathleen Gordon—yeah, Kathy to her friends—grew up in Peoria, Illinois, smack in the heart of the Midwest. Classic Irish Catholic roots. Sure, she’s got that whole “could-be-a-nun” vibe, but don’t get too comfortable—she lives for the gritty, off-beat roles. She’s warm, but there’s a sharp edge, like she’s got a good joke or maybe a dark secret up her sleeve. No wonder she was destined to be a character actress. I mean, at fourteen, she was already taking on roles three times her age, running the show in Peoria’s Children’s Theatre. She grabbed her Theatre degree from Butler University and just ran with it—seven seasons of summer stock, singing, dancing, acting, you name it. Then, in ’78, she hit San Francisco, tapping her way through the Magic Theatre in “Minnie Mouse and the Tap-Dancing Buddha.” Next up: serious acting, so she jumped into the American Conservatory Theatre’s summer program. Early ’80s, she lands in NYC, learns from Greg Zittel, and kills it in commercials. Piano bars became her playground, with one-woman shows like “Don’t Call Me Mary.” She totally owned the stage in Nicky Silver’s “Fetid Itch,” and critics loved her for being unpredictable and hilarious. Eventually, the ocean called and she made the move to LA. There’s where she decided to become a mom—adopted her son in 2003, which changed her whole outlook (and cranked her dark humor up a notch). Since then, she’s been all over TV—Weeds, Cold Case, Murphy Brown. Bi-coastal now, splitting time between LA and NYC, always chasing the next wild role.