Georgina Cates

1975-04-04 · Colchester, Essex, UK

Georgina Cates is an English film and television actress and professional photographer based in the US. Born in Colchester in 1975 as Clare Elaine Woodgate, she entered the acting profession under that name and first came to fame at the age of sixteen in the role of Jenny Porter in the BBC sitcom 2 Point 4 Children. After two series, she moved on to appear in guest roles in long-running, popular drama series such as The Bill and Casualty. In 1995, she auditioned for the role of Stella in Mike Nicholls' adaptation of the Beryl Bainbridge novel, An Awfully Big Adventure. When her audition proved unsuccessful, she went away and adopted the name Georgina Cates, dyed her hair red, pretended to be a seventeen year old novice performer from Liverpool and auditioned again. The result was that she won the role and starred opposite Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman and was nominated for Actress of the Year by the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Now known as Georgina Cates, she went on to star in Frankie Starlight, Stiff Upper Lips, Illuminata and Clay Pigeons. She married Skeet Ulrich in 1997, with whom she had twins. The couple divorced in 2005 and Cates returned to acting two years later with an acclaimed, award winning performance in indie film Sinner. Since then, Cates has appeared on TV in The Closer and in the 2013 Johnny Knoxville film, Bad Grandpa. In recent years she has concentrated on her photography.