[Shadowhunter] Encyclopedia

♛ Katherine McNamara

Katherine McNamara is an actress born in  Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Ursula and Evan McNamara, who served in the U.S. military. She was raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and moved to Los Angeles, California in 2011.

While growing up, Kat was an advanced student in certain subjects, resulting in her being part-homeschooled; she received her High School Diploma at age 14. At age 17, McNamara graduated  summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Drexel University, completing much of her course work online. In July 2017, she said that she was enrolled in an online master's degree literature program at Johns Hopkins University.

Kat began her acting career on stage in Kansas City. She then participated in motion picture productions filmed in the Kansas City area, such as Matchmaker Mary in 2008 and the short film "Get Off My Porch". In 2010, she appeared in the 2009  Broadway revival of A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. On May 6, 2015, ABC Family (now freeform) announced that McNamara would be playing the lead character Clary Fray in Shadowhunters, a television adaptation of Cassandra Clare's bestselling book series The Mortal Instruments. 

McNamara appeared in the maze runner film sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, as Sonya, a co-leader of Group B. She reprised the role in the 2018 sequel, Maze Runner: The Death Cure . In September 2018, McNamara was cast in the seventh season of Arrow as the recurring character of Mia Smoak, the daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak; McNamara was later promoted to a series regular for Arrow's eighth and final season. In October 2019, The CW announced plans for a potential Arrow spin-off featuring Mia Smoak. A backdoor pilot for the spin-off aired as the ninth episode of Arrow's final season.During May and June 2020, McNamara participated in the making of The Untitled Horror Movie, a movie that was shot by cast members receiving direction from Nick Simon via remote videoconferencing. This was due to restrictions necessitated by COVID-19 distancing protocols.

Kat has also released two songs in her career, Ember, which is about her shadowhunters experience, and Just like James. Kat has participated in anti-bullying efforts by describing how she was bullied as a child, as well as working with the Lollipop Theater Network, visiting children who are confined to hospitals due to the severity of their illnesses.

Article by clacesxshadow (pipermulti.x on IG)