Recognized as an extraordinary actress capable of delivering engaging performances to carve out her niche in the film industry, Catherine Keener undoubtedly has transformed into one of the most celebrated actresses that people always pay their respect on. Born on March 23, 1959 in Miami, Florida, this blue-eyed thespian spent her childhood years in Hialeah, part of the city's metropolitan area where she attended Immaculate Conception School before returned to Miami to continue her study at Monsignor Edward Pace High School. It was not until the dark-haired girl entered Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts that she began to develop her interest in acting, recklessly quitting a photography class to take a theater ensemble class in which she was involved in its stage production of "Uncommon Women and Others."

Following her graduation from the college in 1983, Catherine managed to find a decent work as an assistant to casting director Gail Eisenstadt who then encouraged her to be an actress instead and helped her to earn a bit part in "About Last Night" (1986) so that she could obtain a Screen Actors Guild card. Other roles soon followed, like in ABC's short lived series of "Ohara" (1987-1988), "Survival Quest" (1989), "Catchfire" (1990), also "Johnny Suede" (1991) which marked her first collaboration with writer-director Tom DiCillo. Keeping up the good teamwork, she afterwards was often seen in this filmmaker's subsequent works, such as "Living in Oblivion" (1995) and "The Real Blonde" (1997).

Mostly appeared in independent features, Catherine received a big turn in her life when she was cast by Spike Jonze to play Maxine Lund in his 1999 effort of "Being John Malkovich" alongside John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Charlie Sheen. Not only shared the huge praise critics directed toward the movie, she even received nominations at numerous award events, most notably that of Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2000 Academy Awards. This attainment unmistakably boosted her career increasingly, propelling her to widespread recognition while led the charming star to more high-profiles movies, such as "Full Frontal" (2002), "The Interpreter" (2005), plus "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" (2005).

Kept displaying her knack of acting brilliantly, Catherine again struck hard in 2006 as she once more acquired an Oscar nomination for the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role through her portrayal of Harper Lee in Bennet Miller's "Capote" (2005). Prior to this, she also landed another of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role at Screen Actors Guild Awards alongside other well-known names of Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Amy Adams, and Frances McDormand. Though the two honors eventually went to Weisz, these have really pointed out the amazing talent she possesses in the art of portraying characters and it surely could still be seen in her next project of "Friends with Money" (2006) which was also starred by Joan Cusack, Jennifer Aniston, and McDormand.

Despite this successful career of hers, Catherine unfortunately had to see herself get stumbled in her attempt to achieve the same point in her private life. Married to Dermot Mulroney in 1990 after meeting him in "Survival Quest", she sadly decided to have a separate life from the actor in September 2005 regardless of the presence of their child, a son named Clyde born in 1999. In contrast, her path in film industry wonderfully continued to run smoothly for a couple of years ahead as she seemed to have no shortage of big screen offers, being billed to star in "An American Crime", "Into the Wild", "Synecdoche, New York", "Where the Wild Things Are", "What Just Happened?", and "Genova."