Kate Capshaw, is a retired American actress known for her dramatic and compelling performances.
Kate Capshaw was born in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the daughter of Beverly Sue a travel agent & beautician, and Edwin Leon Nail, an airline employee. She moved to St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of five, and graduated from Hazelwood Central High School, in 1972.
She earned an education degree from the University of Missouri. She married marketing manager Robert Capshaw in January 1976 and they had one child, Jessica Capshaw, before eventually divorcing him in 1980. However, she kept the surname Capshaw, which she used as her professional name as an actress.
At the age of 28, Kate Capshaw moved to New York City to pursue her dream of being an actress. She landed her first role on the soap opera, ‘The Edge of Night.’ She got the role of the leading lady after auditioning for a small role in ‘A Little Sex’.
However, it was her portrayal of Willie Scott, an American nightclub singer and performer in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, that gave her massive applause and international recognition.
During the production of ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, she became close with director Steven Spielberg and they sparked a friendship. They later got married on October 12, 1991 in a civil ceremony and an Orthodox ceremony.
She starred in Dreamscape in 1984, and afterwards in Windy City which was directed by her then-boyfriend Armyan Bernstein.
Kate Capshaw starred opposite Harrison Ford, who played Indiana Jones. In addition, she appeared as Andie Bergstrom, an appealing and stern yet frustrated camp instructor in the 1986 film SpaceCamp, opposite Richard Gere and Gene Hackman in Power (1986), and starred as Susanna McKaskel in The Quick and The Dead (1987) with Sam Elliott. Capshaw also starred in the spy film/romance Her Secret Life.
Capshaw had roles in several films throughout the late 1980s into the 1990s. She starred alongside Michael Douglas and Andy García in Black Rain (1989), Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne in Just Cause (1995), and Warren Beatty and Katharine Hepburn in Love Affair (1994). She was also featured in the 1997 film The Alarmist with David Arquette and Stanley Tucci. In 1999, she starred in and produced The Love Letter.
In 2001, she starred in the Showtime Cable Network TV Movie A Girl Thing,[5] with Stockard Channing, Rebecca De Mornay and Elle Macpherson.
After 20 years of being in front of the camera, Jessica Capshaw decided to retire from acting after her final screen appearance in the 2001 TV movie, Due East. At the time, she was 48 years old, an age where roles are hard to come by in Hollywood, she made the decision to retire to focus on her expanded family of 7 children as a result of adoption and the children from their former marriages.
The decision to retire was probably for the best as Kate nurtured three of her children to be big names in the acting and music industry.
Capshaw endorsed Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012.
In addition to this, Capshaw also donated $250,000 to support the election of 2020 Democratic presidential nominee and latest president, Joe Biden.
Read Also
The Urban Woman Magazine Editorial Team is made up of seasoned writers and editors who have a keen eye for detail and a passion for all things urban. We strive to create fresh, original content that appeals to the modern woman. Our mission is to provide a platform for women to share their stories, experiences and opinions on various issues affecting their lives.