About Katherine McNamara
- Kat Mcnamara Web
- Nov 21, 2020
- 4 min read
Katherine Grace McNamara (born November 22, 1995) is an American actor, singer/songwriter, dancer and upcoming director. She ist best known for her roles as Sonya in Maze Runner (2015, 2018), Clary Fairchild in Shadowhunters (2016-2019) and Mia Smoak in Arrow (2018-2020). She participated in many more projects in television, as well as in film and theater productions.
Due to her outstanding work, McNamara was named on of Vanity Fair's "Breakout Bunch" and awared the People's Choice Award for "Top Female Television Actress" in 2018 (for her role as Clary).
Early life/career
McNamara was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and was raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri, until she moved to Los Angeles, California, in 2011 at the age of 16.
Before moving, she received her high school diploma at the age of 14. Shortly after that, she enrolled at Drexel University and graduated summa cum laude (Latin honors) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.
While working hard for her education, McNamara was already busy booking a number of roles. She started off her professional career on Broadway when she was only 13 years old. She took on the role of Fredrika Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. McNamara then continued to work on Broadway projects such as To Kill A Mockingbird, Annie, Galileo and a couple more.
Shortly after, she began making guest appearances on TV productions (Law & Order: SVU, 30 Rock, Drop Dead Diva).
Breakthrough
Shortly after McNamara moved to Los Angeles, she was booked for the lead role of FreeForm's TV adaption of Cassandra Clare's bestselling book series The Mortal Instruments. FreeForm announced that McNamara was chosen for Clary Fray (Clarissa Fairchild) on May 6, 2015, on their new show called Shadowhunters.
After taking on the role as Clary, Kat was able to generate and establish a broad, international fanbase and became extremely active on all of her social media accounts, strengthening the bond between her and her core audience.
In the same year, she appeared in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials as Sonya, the co-leader of "Group B".
She reprised her role as Sonya in 2018, when she also appeared on Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
After four years of shooting three seasons of Shadowhunters, the show got officially cancelled by FreeForm, meaning that there will not be any upcoming seasons.
Even though fans were tremendously upset about losing McNamara as a beloved main character of the fantasy show, they didn't have to wait too long to see their favorite actress back on their screens.
In September 2018, Katherine was cast in the 7th of Arrow as Mia Smoak, the daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak (also known as Olicity). McNamara was later promoted to a series regular for Arrow's final season In October 2019, The CW even announced plans for a potential Arrow spin-off featuring Mia Smoak, though there have been no updates about said spin-off so far.
In October 2019, McNamara was cast as Julie Lawry in the CBS All Access adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. CBS All Access has announced a premiere date of December 17, 2020.
Furthermore, Katherine participatedd in the making of a horror thriller that was filmed during quarantine due to the global pandemic in 2020. The movie is called The Untitled Horror Movie and was shot on the cast's computers in a video conference style, as explained by the movie's director Nick Simon. So far, it is unclear when the movie will be released.
Music
Katherine is quite passionate about music as well and already published a couple of songs on her own, but she also keeps on featuring music for her acting projects.
McNamara wrote and sang the song "My Heart Can Fly" for her role in Little Savages. Furthermore, she sang "Wait for You", which is the end credits song for A Sort of Homecoming. She also sang "Stay True", the end credits song for R.L. Stine's Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls.
Katherine's very own song "Ember" was featured on the season two finale of Shadowhunters, which made her audience become more interested in a potential music career.
In the first quarter of 2020, McNamara released an upbeat, feel-good song to lift her audience's spirits during the seemingly never-ending quarantine, called "Just Like James".
Most recently, on November 21, 2020, McNamara released "What Do We Got To Lose", a pop song about wanting to be romantically involved with someone after being lonely for a while.
You'd like to check out Katherine's music for yourself?
You can find the link to her Spotify account right here.
Katherine continuously tries to give back whenever she is able to. Since she had opened up in the past about being bullied as a kid, it has become important to her to promote kindness as the role model she is now. She also inspires many of her fans by sharing posts that motivate or inspire herself.
In the past, McNamara has worked with several organizations such as the Lollipop Theater Network which supports children that are confined to hospitals due to their severe illnesses. Katherine also constantly stands up for women's rights. Her song "Glass Slipper" was used in a charity campaign for the United Nations Girl Up program in 2017, supporting and promoting equality and empowering girls across the world.
In 2018 and 2019, Katherine participated in the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, which raises donations for the Kansas City Children's Mercy Hospital. She wants to keep working with/for the Blick Slick in the future.
As mentioned before, her song "Just Like James" was released during the first quarantine of 2020. By releasing the song, McNamara wanted to entertain her audience, but she also wanted to do even more good and donated all proceeds from the song to the World Health Organization for COVID-19 relief efforts. Google will donate funds matching sales from the first 30 days.
On May 8, 2020, McNamara participated in a live-reading adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice with Acting for a Cause.
Katherine McNamara on Social Media
Are you interested in staying up-to-date with Katherine through her social media accounts? Say no more! We have linked her Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and IMDb for you!
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