Bio
Katherine Heigl is an American actress and former fashion model best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens in the television medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, from 2005-2010.
In 2007 Heigl won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzie Stevens. She left the show at the end of the sixth season, in 2010.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Connecticut, Heigl began modeling and appearing in TV ads at age 9.
After making her film debut at age 12 in That Night (1992), Heigl balanced movie work with high school, playing a small role in Steven Soderbergh's depression-era drama, King of the Hill (1993), starring as Gerard Depardieu's difficult daughter in My Father, the Hero (1994), and Steven Seagal's niece in the action sequel, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995).
Heigl headed to Los Angeles after high school to make acting her full-time job. Additional feature credits include Prince Valiant (1997), the comedy Wish Upon a Star (1996), a small part as a Rita Hayworth stand-in in Stand-Ins (1997) and the teen comedy 100 Girls (2000).
Heigl made a foray into horror with Bug Buster (1998), Bride of Chucky (1998) and Valentine (2001), where she starred opposite David Boreanaz.
Branching out into television, Heigl co-starred with Peter Fonda in a Shakespeare-via-Civil War reworking of The Tempest (1998).
Benefiting from the late-'90s wave of youth-driven TV shows, Heigl stayed with television and attracted a following as alien Isabel on Roswell and in 2005 she was cast as Dr Isobel "Izzy" Stevens in Grey's Anatomy.
On September 16, 2007, Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzie Stevens.
In her acceptance speech she acknowledged that even her mother did not believe she would win, and when her name was called, had to be censored vocally by the telecast's producers, due to her saying "Shit!" when she reacted to the win.
Earlier, she had corrected telecast announcer Rebecca Riedy, who had been given an incorrect phonetic spelling of Heigl's name, when she mispronounced her name as Hi-gell before the presentation of the award with Kyle Chandler for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
Heigl has two older brothers, Holt and John; and an older sister, Meg. Her brother Jason died from head injuries suffered in a car accident when she was very young.
Heigl was previously in a relationship with actor Jason Behr, her Roswell co-star.
In June 2006, she became engaged to singer Josh Kelley, whom she met on the set of his music video for "Only You."
They were married on 23 December, 2007. The couple adopted a baby girl from South Korea in 2009.