Award-winning actress Kate Mulgrew stars as Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Starship U.S.S. Voyager in Paramount Network Television’s STAR TREK: VOYAGER. As captain, it is Janeway’s responsiblity to keep the crew hopeful as they struggle through the far reaches of the uncharted Delta Quadrant in search of a way home. As the first female lead to captain a Star Trek vessel in the franchise’s 32-year history, Mulgrew has made television history.
Mulgrew grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, the oldest girl in a family of eight. She left home at the age of 17 and traveled to New York City to study acting. Upon her arrival, she enrolled at New York University and was accepted into Stella Adler’s Conservatory. At the end of her junior year, Mulgrew left the university to commit herself full-time to her craft.
Exhibiting some of the legendary “luck of the Irish,” Mulgrew was immediately cast as Mary Ryan on the ABC daytime drama “Ryan’s Hope,” while simultaneously earning the role of Emily in a production of “Our Town” at the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. Her role as Mary Ryan lasted two years. Her theatrical stint ended a good deal sooner, but both set the stage for how her acting career would unfold.
At the age of 23, Mulgrew was approached by the head of NBC programming Fred Silverman, who offered her a starring role in a series he had created with her in mind - “Kate Columbo.” The series found Mulgrew playing the wife of one of TV’s most beloved detectives, Lt. Columbo. While a critical success, the NBC series was canceled after two seasons, although it can still be seen in syndication under the title “Kate Loves a Mystery.”
Mulgrew went on to star in several feature films, including, “Love Spell: Isolt of Ireland” with Richard Burton, and “A Stranger is Watching,” with Rip Torn. She traveled to Europe to film the ABC mini-series “The Manions of America” with Pierce Brosnan and spent time in Mexico filming the feature “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.” Mulgrew also starred in “Throw Momma from the Train” with Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal.
She returned to television as the star of the ABC drama “Heartbeat,” where she portrayed Doctor Joanne Springstein, the head of a medical clinic. This series, which aired for two seasons, won a People’s Choice Award for Best Drama. Following this, Mulgrew went on to co-star in the comedy series “Man of the People,” alongside James Garner. Most recently, she completed production on “Riddler’s Moon,” a tele-film for UPN which was shot entirely on location in Luxembourg.
Mulgrew is also a veteran of numerous theatrical productions. She made her Broadway debut in “Black Comedy,” a play written by Peter Schaeffer that also starred Nancy Marchand and Peter MacNichol. Her other stage credits include starring roles in “Titus Andronicus” at the Shakespeare Theater in New York City’s Central Park; and “Hedda Gabler” and “Measure for Measure” at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum.
Her episodic television credits include a recurring role as a Boston councilwoman, (Sam Malone’s love interest), in several episodes of “Cheers,” and her portrayal of an alcoholic anchorwoman on “Murphy Brown,” for which she won the Tracey Humanitarian Award. In 1998, she was instated as the Honorary Mayor of Brentwood, was the recipient of the Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Drama, and a Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress.
The recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of letters for Artistic Contribution from Seton Hall University, Mulgrew currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Tim Hagan, and her two sons, Ian and Alexander.
