Katherine Lanasa
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
For years, actress Katherine LaNasa was primarily known as actor Dennis Hopper's wife. She met the legendary actor and former Hollywood wild man in 1987 at a diner reception in Los Angeles when she was a professional dancer with the Karole Armitage Ballet company. Two years later, LaNasa and Hopper were married. In 1990, LaNasa appeared in Hopper's film "Backtrack," starring Hopper and Jodie Foster. LaNasa and Hopper divorced in 1992, but by then she was appearing in a number of television shows and movies, although nothing substantial. Probably her most notable guest spot was in a 1995 episode of the popular sitcom "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1989-1998). She continued to rack up jobs, but it was not until the next decade when LaNasa landed her biggest role to date, starring as Bess on the short-lived sitcom "Three Sisters" (NBC, 2001-02). Through the decade, LaNasa's television work blossomed with more prominent guest spots, including parts on "Judging Amy" (CBS, 1999-2005), "Big Love" (HBO, 2006-2011) and playing alcoholic Sophia Bowers on "Deception" (NBC, 2013). One of her biggest feature film roles came in 2012, when she played Will Ferrell's wife in the political satire "The Campaign."
LaNasa was born in 1966 and raised in New Orleans in a prominent household. Dancing was an enormous part of her life and at the age of 14, she was accepted into the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts. A few years later, she was dancing professionally for the Salt Lake City Ballet West and the Armitage troupe. While performing with the latter in Los Angeles, she met and later married Hopper. LaNasa and Hopper had one child together, actor Henry Hopper. After splitting with the infamous actor, LaNasa later guest-starred on the television sitcom "3rd Rock from the Sun" (NBC, 1996-2001), where she met her next husband, actor French Stewart. The couple divorced in 2009, after eleven years of marriage, and LaNasa eventually married her third husband, actor Grant Show, in 2012.
Despite her first marriage to a Hollywood legend, LaNasa was in the same position as countless other acting hopefuls; casting agents were not automatically going to give her a plume role with no real stage or screen experience. She worked hard throughout the 1990s, landing small parts on shows like the science-fiction series "Sliders" (FOX, 1995-99), family drama "Touched by an Angel" (CBS, 1994-2003) and sitcom "Almost Perfect" (CBS, 1995-96). She also had forgettable parts in a number of feature films from this period, including the comedy "Brain Donors" (1992), starring John Turturro, Steven Soderbergh's wildly idiosyncratic absurdist comedy "Schizopolis" (1996) and the indie movie "Kiss and Tell" (1996), starring Heather Graham. But after her starring role on the sitcom "Three Sisters," LaNasa's career received a late-career boost. She had larger parts in several big screen features, including the road comedy "The Lucky Ones" (2008), starring Tim Robbins, the ensemble romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" (2010) and in the indie drama "Jane Mansfield's Car" (2012), starring Billy Bob Thornton and Robert Duvall. Her meaty role on the mystery show "Deception" was LaNasa's biggest role to date, giving viewers plenty of love-to-hate-her pleasure.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Dance (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1990
Debut film role in "Catchfire"
1994
First TV role in "Heart of Justice"
1996
First recurring role, as Alison in sitcom "Almost Perfect" (CBS)
2001
First lead role in NBC comedy "Three Sisters"
2012
Starred alongside Will Ferrell in "The Campaign"
2013
Landed main role in NBC drama "Deception"
Family
Companions
