Kaitlin Hopkins was born in New York City on February 1, 1964 to mother (actress Shirley Knight) and father (producer Gene Persson). Kaitlin was raised primarily in London with her mother and step-father (playwright John R. Hopkins) and half-sister (television writer Sophie C. Hopkins). At age twelve Kaitlin moved back to New York City and attended The Little Red School House in Greenwich Village. She spent her high school years at Williston Northampton School, a boarding school in East Hampton, MA. Kaitlin later attended the musical theater program at Carnegie Mellon University and studied acting at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She has studied singing privately with Douglas Decatur, Christopher Schumann, Judy Natalucci and Liz Caplan, and currently studies with Joan Lader in New York City. Past acting teachers include Harry Mastrogeorge, Carol D'Andrea, Anne Bogart, Shirley Knight, Lee Richardson, Joanne Woodward and Morton Dacosta, as well as classes at HB Studios and The Theatre Artists Workshop of Westport, CT.

Her professional career began at age 13 in a summer stock production of The Children's Hour at The Berkshire Playhouse starring (her mom Shirley Knight), Joanne Woodward and David Selby,directed by Arthur Sherman. Her next professional appearance was her Off-Broadway debut in The Roundabout Theatre production of Come Back Little Sheba starring Shirley Knight, Phillip Bosco and Steven Weber. Then twenty, she starred later that year in A Bill Of Divorcement opposite Christopher Walken at The Westport Country Playhouse.

Kaitlin's first television part was a recurring role on One Life To Live, followed by a contract role, playing Dr. Kelsey Harrison on NBC's long running Soap Opera Another World. While learning to work in front of the camera by day, she pursued her first love, the theater, by night, originating roles in two new musicals: Johnny Pye and The Foolkiller (opposite Daniel Jenkins and Spiro Malis) at The Lamb's Theatre and the workshop of My Favorite Year (starring Evan Pappas, Anita Gillette, Faith Prince and Jim Dale) at Playwright's Horizons. Johnny Pye was created by Mark St Germain and Randy Court and directed by Scott Harris. My Favorite Year was created by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens and directed by Ron Lagomersino. She also appeared in Takes On Women by Wendy Wasserstein at Naked Angels, and A Victorian Scandal by Maggie Williams, playing opposite Keir Dullea. On weekends you could catch her performing her cabaret act at Club Eighty Eight's in The Village with musical director Jason Robert Brown, and she often was accompanied by her old pal, Andrew Lippa. In 1990 The Hollywood Foreign Press Association named her Miss Golden Globe.

In 1993 she completed her contract on Another World and went to Los Angeles. Three days after arriving, Joseph Stern (then executive producer for Law and Order and Judging Amy) asked her to join his theater company, The Matrix Theatre Company. She immediately began rehearsals for Habeus Corpus directed by Kris Tabori and later did the critically acclaimed production of Carole Churchill's Mad Forest directed by Stephanie Shroyer. Both productions received Ovation Awards for best ensemble. She continued her singing career by performing every weekend in Santa Monica at The Pink, and later with sold-out runs at The Cinegrill, The Gardina and At My Place.

Next came a pilot for Brandon Tartikoff and several episodics: "Beverly Hills 90210", "Murder She Wrote", "Wings", "Promised Land", "Gabriel's Fire" ‚"The Jenny Show" ‚"Alf", "The Judge" and "Veronica Claire". She also had recurring roles on: "The Practice" , "Rescue Me," ‚"Star Trek - Deep Space Nine", "JAG", "Spin City", "My Life And Times" and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". Other guest spots include :"Law and Order SVU", "Law and Order CI", "Six Degrees", "All My Children, "Providence" ‚ "The Division", "Diagnosis Murder" and "Star Trek -Voyager" .Movies of the week include: "Except For Me And Thee", "The United States Of America Vs. Salim Ajame","Police Story", "Breast Men" (HBO). She also starred in the Hallmark film "The Ransom Of Redchief" directed by Bob Clark, with Alan Ruck, Haley Joel Osment, Christopher Lloyd and Michael Jeter.

In 1994 Kaitlin got the opportunity of a lifetime when she was asked to create the role of Tiffany in the world tour of John Adams rock opera I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky directed by Peter Sellars. She spent the next year traveling the world, performing in Paris, New York City (Lincoln Center), San Fransico, Hamburg, Helsinki, Montreal, and The Edinburgh Festival with fellow cast members Jerry Dixon, Darius de Haas, Kenna Ramsey, Harold Perrineau, Welly Yang, Michael Ness and Sophia Salguero.

Regional Theatre credits include:Party Come Here and The Opposite of Sex at the Williamstown Theater Festival, Blithe Spirit with mom Shirley Knight (The Pasadena Playhouse) directed by Douglas Wager, for which she received Garland and Robbie Awards. Kaitlin also starred the same year as Gwendolyn in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (The Pasadena Playhouse, Robbie Award) directed by Sheldon Epps and additionally starring Patrick Dempsey and Shirley Knight. Other regional credits include: Noel Coward's Present Laughter directed by Richard Seyd (The Pasadena Playhouse, Robbie Award), the west coast premiere of Catherine Butterfield's Life in the Trees directed by Marylou Belli (The Melrose Theatre), as well as creating the role of Wallis Simpson in the new musical Only a Kingdom directed by Scott Schwartz (The Pasadena Playhouse). In 1999 The L.A Times considered her performance in Bernard Shaw's The Philanderer as the year's best performance.The production, directed by David Emmes, at South Coast Repertory, was named one of the Top 10 Productions in Los Angeles for that year. Michael Phillips, critic for the Los Angeles Times, said, "Hopkins reminds us again she's one of the best practitioners of period comic style."One of Kaitlin's proudest achievements came when she created the role of Meredith in The Actor's Gang production in Los Angeles of Bat Boy-The Musical for which she received an Ovation Award nomination. After the show won The Richard Rodgers Award, considerable changes were made by co-book writers Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, and composer/lyricist Larry O'Keefe during workshops at The Director's Company in New York. Bat-Boy then went on to a successful run Off -Broadway at The Union Square Theater. The production, directed by Scott Schwartz, was critically hailed as a classic. Kaitlin received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance and was named "Break Out Performer of the Year" by Broadway.com. The cast also included Deven May, Kerry Butler, Sean McCourt, Kathy Brier, Doug Storm, Trent Armand Kendall, Jim Price, Richard Pruitt, and Daria Hardeman.

In the summer of 2002 she made her Broadway debut taking over for Faith Prince in the Broadway production of Noises Off directed by Jeremy Sams. She also appeared as Hope Harcourt in Lincoln Center's benefit performance of Anything Goes, directed by Robert Longbottom, sets and costumes by Tony Walton with Patty LuPone, Linda Hart, Boyd Gaines and Harold McGillin. In the spring of 2003 Kaitlin shot a pilot for The Fox Network called The Big Wide World Of Carl Lemke starring Bob Odenkirk. She also starred with Rebecca Luker in The Reprise Series production of She Loves Me (Ovation Award Nomination) and performed at The Mark Taper Forum with Michael Feinstein in his new show The Great American Song Book . Gordon Hunt directed both productions.

January of 2004 Kaitlin opened in Nicky Silver's new play Beautiful Child Off Broadway at The Vineyard Theatre, directed by Terry Kinney,starring Steven Pascal,George Grissard, Penny Fuller and Alexander Gersten. At the same time, she was busy rehearsing a new musicial called BARE which went on to have a successful run Off Broadway at ATA. Cast included Jim Price, Michael Arden, John Hill, Adam Flemming, Natalie Joy Johnson.

October of 2006, Kaitlin originates the role of "Mama Who" The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on Broadway at The Hilton Theater.

For all you workshop/reading buff's Kaitlin also worked/is working on the following shows: : Happiness (Lincoln Center) directed by Susan Stroman, Lyrics by Michael Korie, music by Scott Frankel and book by John Weidman, Sleeping Beauty Wakes(McCarter Theater), Bye Bye Birdie( The Roundabout Theater) directed by Robert Longbottom, The Flamingo Kid directed by Michael Mayer, Himself and Nora music and lyrics by John Brielle, Soap Dish-The Musical, lyrics and music by Mark Hollmann ,book by Robert Harling, directed by Jason Moore, Jerry Christmas, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, book by Daniel Goldfarb, directed by David Warren, Five Thousand Fingers of Dr T music and lyrics by Glenn Roven directed by Susan Shulman, Fools for Broadway directed by Peter Flynn with Seth Rudetsky, Jim Price and Jenny Powers, Adrift In Macao, a new musical, book and lyrics by Chris Durang, music by Peter Melnick, directed by Sheryl Kaller (The York Theater and Manhattan Theater Club), Sarah Plain And Tall a new musical with book by Julia Jordon, music by Larry O'Keefe, lyrics by Nel Benjamin, directed by Joe Calarco (The O'Neill Festival), BARE a new musical with book and lyrics by Jon Hartmere, music by Damon Intrabartolo, directed by Kristin Hanggi (The Dodgers), People Be Heard a new play by Quincy Long with music by Michael Roth, directed by Les Waters (Playwright's Horizons), Arthur Miller's After The Fall directed by Michael Mayer with Hillary Swank and Liev Shrieber (The Roundabout), Scream a new musical by David Foster directed by Lisa Henry (ASCAP), Dirty Dancing-The Musical with Michael Ruppert directed by Diane Paulis (The Dodgers) , Incubus a new play by Jim Hindman, A Face In The Crowd book by Walter Bobbie, music and lyrics by Don Schlitz , Chris Durang's new play Miss Witherspoon (Southampton College Writer's Conference), Caraboo a new musical with book by Marsha Norman, music by Jenny Giering, lyrics by Beth Blatt, directed by Gordon Greenberg, DollFace a new musical, music by David Forman, directed by Sheryl Kaller (New York Stage and Film), Party Come Here, for The Roundabout, book by Daniel Goldfarb, lyrics and music by David Kirshenbaum, directed by Jason Moore. The Joan River's Theatre Project, for The Roundabout directed by Lonnie Price, No Boundaries a new hip hop musical, A Touch of The Poet with Liam Neeson and Fiona Shaw for The Roundabout directed by Ed Hall, The Screams Of Kitty Genovese, directed by John Caird, at The Public Theatre, libretto by David Simpatico, music by Will Todd, Henry, Sweet Henry, directed by Gordon Greenburg and How Now, Dow Jones, directed by Sheryl Kaller, both for The York Theatre, But I'm A Cheerleader (BMI) a new musical, music by Andrew Abrams, book by Bill Augustin and, last but not least, a terrific reading of William Inge' s Bus Stop starring opposite Jim Price, Romulus Linney and Austin Pendleton (The William Inge Festival).

Films: Confessions of a Shaopaholic, The Nanny Diaries, starring Laura Linney and Scarlett Johansson,Trust The Man, starring Julianne Moore, How to Kill your Neighbor's Dog, executive producer, Robert Redford, written and directed by Michael Kalesniko, starring Kenneth Branagh, Robin Wright Penn, Peter Riegert, Lynn Redgrave, David Krumholtz and playing opposite Johnathan Schaech; Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles with Paul Hogan in which she has the supporting lead; As Good As it Gets; Little Boy Blue; Runaway Dreams; Turk 182; Spirits. She also appeared in two shorts, The Wedge, and Far From Home, which was written and directed by Shirley Knight, starring Judge Reinhold and Loretta Devine, and finally, the award-winning independent feature, Ted.

Kaitlin has performed in over 20 live radio plays for LA Theater Works The Play's The Thing series including: Stephen Schwartz's Working directed by Scott Schwartz, Proof with Anne Heche directed by Jenny Sullivan, The Heidi Chronicles with Martha Plimpton directed by Molly Smith, Mrs. Warren's Profession, The Brothers Karamazov, The Master and Margarita, An Ideal Husband and The Women Who Laughed starring opposite Ed Asner. As an actress Kaitlin is proud to be represented by The Gage Group.

Kaitlin's producing credits include: Associate producer and co-casting director for L.A.Theatre Works including their productions of Stephen Schwartz's musical Working, Six Degree's of Separation, The Young Man from Atlanta, An American Daughter, George Wolf's The Colored Museum and the new opera's Monticello and Black Water. She was associate producer of the live television and radio broadcast of The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial in association with LA Theatre Works and The American Way starring Ed Asner, James Cromwell, Dakin Mathews and Shirley Knight. Kaitlin worked for Mopo Productions at Universal Studios developing movies of the week. She produced the live Web cast of The 1999 Los Angeles Ovation Awards, hosted by Bill Brochtrup and was the talent producer for 20 episodes of The Pet Shop for the Discovery Channel, currently airing on Animal Planet. She also designed and produced A Tribute to Tennessee Williams, a series of symposiums in association with The Pasadena Playhouse and produced a pilot for comedian Ed Crasnick.

Kaitlin's directing credits include the world premiere if the Boch and Harnick Revue "Beautiful, Beautiful World" at The William Inge Festival in 2007. She has also acted as Dramaturge and director for Deborah Grace Winer's "The Real Tabasco" at The Westport Playhouse and The Actors Studio, husband James Price's "Collision Course" at The Lark and his new musical "Cold Feet" with partner Jim Hindman.

Katilin serves on the Board for The William Inge Foundation and helped found the Outreach Program for The Pasadena Playhouse. Kaitlin also served one year as Co- Artistic Director for the Ojai Playwright's Conference an organization devoted to developing new plays. She has also served as a panel member for The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Kaitlin currently serves as a judge for The Irene Ryan Awards for The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and as a master class teacher for several Regions. Kaitlin served on the board and as Associate Artistic Director and Executive Administrator for The Powerhouse Theater in Santa Monica, CA. Kaitlin teaches master classes in acting,musical theater performance, on camera auditioning and vocal health all over the country at performing arts high schools and colleges. She also coaches privately in New York City.She comes from a long line of artists, her father Gene Persson (Broadway Producer) You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Dutchman, stepfather John R. Hopkins (British writer) Find Your Way Home, Thunderball, Talking to a Stranger, sister Sophie C. Hopkins (television writer) Night Visions, Farscape, step-sister Dr. Justine Hopkins (art historian-writer) and her mother Shirley Knight (actress) 2 Academy Award Nominations, 3 Emmy Awards 10 Nominations, 1 Tony Award 2 Nominations, 2 Golden Globes 3 Nominations, Venice Film Festival/ Best Actress, you name it, she's done it. Step Mother, Ruby Persson (painter), and brother's Lukas Persson (film maker-songwriter-web designer) and Markus Persson (musician-songwriter), keyboard player for band Psychic TV.

For all of you interested in Kaitlin's personal life, you might as well get it right. Kaitlin was engaged to, but never married, actor Judge Reinhold. That relationship ended after five wonderful years and they are still great friends. Judge is now happily married to his wonderful wife, Amy. However, Kaitlin was married to actor/director Daniel Passer for five years 1996-2001. She currently lives in New York City with her super fantastic husband playwright/actor/composer Jim Price (Ring of Fire, Civil War, Les Miserables, Bat Boy , Bare). Jim and Kaitlin met when they did "Bat Boy- The Musical" and after 6 wonderful years together, Jim and Kaitlin were married on August 25th, 2007 .