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The Beautiful People of 2005
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SEX? She'll have the same
Despite the androgynous beauty
that has helped win her numerous gender-confused roles, sharp-haired looker
Katherine Moennig cries boredom about sexual-identity issues. That's a
little weird, considering her acclaimed turn as Shane McCutcheon, a
fascinating and voracious woman-eater on Showtime's lesbian drama series The
L Word. And that's not all, either: Moennig's first job was on the WB series
Young Americans, where she played Jacqueline "Jake" Pratt, a girl who enrols
in an all-boys boarding school. Even earlier, the Philadelphia girl had
auditioned for Boys Don't Cry but lost the Brandon Teena part to Hilary
Swank. What's up? "It's not planned," the 27-year-old explains. "It's just
that I want to do challenging roles that can change people's perceptions.
There's no point in being an actor if you're not trying to learn or grow."
While The L Word's shooting schedule is intense -- Moennig spends most of
the year filming in Vancouver -- she considers taking on other projects
essential to her education (among them is the upcoming Art School
Confidential by director Terry Zwigoff and writer Daniel Clowes). Show
business is in her blood: Moennig is the niece of Blythe Danner and cousin
of Gwyneth Paltrow. "It is what it is," she says of her famous relations.
Nevertheless, the family's proud of her, and apparently, they like to work
with her, too. Five years ago Moennig appeared in the Williamstown Theatre
Festival alongside Paltrow in a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
And, inasmuch as she's known she'd be an actress for most of her life, she's
been dealing with gender-bending almost as long. At age 10, her first part
was in a production of Winnie the Pooh. She played Christopher Robin.
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