---
name: "Kate Mulgrew"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kate-mulgrew"
fi1m_id: "kate-mulgrew"
imdb_id: "nm0000550"
tmdb_id: 35317
wikidata_id: "Q230038"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "29 April 1955"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 69
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 6
updated: "2026-10-04T20:11:03.106302+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kate Mulgrew

## Identity

Kate Mulgrew

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/kate-mulgrew
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** kate-mulgrew
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000550
- **TMDB ID:** 35317
- **Wikidata ID:** Q230038
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Mulgrew, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230038, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000550/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/35317

Actor. Born 29 April 1955 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 29 April 1955, Dubuque, Iowa, USA
- **Active:** 1987–present
- **Also known as:** کیت مولگرو, Кейт Малгрю
- **Average Fi1m score:** 69, as actor, over 6 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 72 (2), 2000s 50 (1), 2010s 79 (1), 2020s 69 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 67 to 68 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 5 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Comedy 4, Crime 3, Adventure 2, Drama 2, Science Fiction 2, Thriller 2
- **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $280m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Mulgrew, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230038, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000550/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/35317

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Dope Thief*](https://film.one/tv/dope-thief.md) (74), [*Throw Momma from the Train*](https://film.one/film/throw-momma-from-the-train.md) (68)
- **Netflix:** [*Orange Is the New Black*](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md) (79)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Kate Mulgrew

> Kate Mulgrew plays women who are in charge and know what it costs them. The voice does half the work, low and unhurried in any accent; the rest is the fear she lets us see and never lets the other characters see.

Galina "Red" Reznikov runs the prison kitchen in *Orange Is the New Black* like a small country, and Kate Mulgrew plays her as a head of state who has read the intelligence reports. The voice is low, Russian and unhurried, and the threats arrive in the tone other people use for the menu. Nobody raises their voice to her twice.

We had her filed within a scene, and we were wrong. Jenji Kohan's series gives each inmate an episode that cuts back to how she got there, and when Red's turn came the past that Jennifer Hatton cut to was not the one we had written for her. It caught us out, and it should not have, because Mulgrew had been telling us all along that the certainty was a performance. That is the thing she does that other actors in these parts do not: the authority is real and the fear under it is real, and she shows us both while the people around her see only the first.

It took television a long time to work that out. She started on the daytime soap *Ryan's Hope* (1975) as Mary Ryan, then *Mrs. Columbo*, and spent years in parts that asked for the toughness and nothing else; the early dramatic work can be stiff, and the soap was slow to wash off. *Star Trek: Voyager* (1995) changed that. Seven seasons as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the first woman to run a starship as the lead of the franchise, taught her to carry a series and, on the evidence of what came after, to wait. What came after was steady guest and voice work and the stage, including *Tea at Five* (2002), a one-woman show in which she played Katharine Hepburn, a natural fit for an actor whose own voice is half the act. Then *Orange Is the New Black* (2013–2019), and a second audience that had never heard of Janeway.

Since then she has gone back to Janeway in the animated *Star Trek: Prodigy* and turned up as Theresa Bowers in *Dope Thief* (2025), in a regional American accent we would not have guessed was hers. Our review of that series did not stop to mention her. That is partly praise, since she fits, and partly a note that the part gives her little to fit into. The pattern in the casting is the limit as well as the strength: she is always the one in charge, and the interesting question is what the writers let the charge cost her. Kohan let it cost plenty. Most do not.

She has said of the move from bridge to kitchen that "It’s tough to be the captain of a starship and then a prison cook." We would put it the other way. The cook is the part we would point a newcomer at first, and the actor who could see that was the one worth hiring.

## Biography

Kate Mulgrew is an American actress. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York and began her career with a role in the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope in 1975.

She is known for portraying Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001) and Galina 'Red' Reznikov in Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019). Other credits include voice work in animated series and a stage performance as Katharine Hepburn in the one-woman play Tea at Five.

In 2025, she appeared as Theresa Bowers in the series Dope Thief. Mulgrew has received awards including a Saturn Award and an Obie Award, and nominations for a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, katemulgrew.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

- *Dope Thief* (2025), Fi1m 74, as Theresa Bowers — [page](https://film.one/tv/dope-thief.md)
- *Elio* (2025), Fi1m 64, as Museum Exhibit Narrator (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/elio.md)
- *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), Fi1m 79, as Galina 'Red' Reznikov — [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md)
- *Star Trek: Nemesis* (2002), Fi1m 50, as Admiral Janeway — [page](https://film.one/film/star-trek-nemesis.md)
- *Murphy Brown* (1988), Fi1m 77, Actor — [page](https://film.one/tv/murphy-brown.md)
- *Throw Momma from the Train* (1987), Fi1m 68, as Margaret Donner — [page](https://film.one/film/throw-momma-from-the-train.md)

## Complete filmography (74)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Imagine* (2026), as Book of Discipline (voice)
- *The Bad Guys: The Series* (2025), series, as Serpentina (voice)
- *Elio* (2025), as Museum Exhibit Narrator (voice) — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/elio.md)
- *Dope Thief* (2025), series, as Theresa Bowers — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/dope-thief.md)
- *The Magnificent Meyersons* (2023), as Dr. Terri Meyerson
- *She* (2022), as Narrator
- *Flowers in the Attic: The Origin* (2022), series, as Mrs. Steiner
- *The Man Who Fell to Earth* (2022), series, as Drew Finch
- *The First Lady* (2022), series, as Susan Sher
- *Dogs in Space* (2021), series, as Mavis (voice)
- *Star Trek: Prodigy* (2021), series, as Kathryn Janeway (voice)
- *INVINCIBLE* (2021), series, as Domina (voice) — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/invincible-2021.md)
- *Infinity Train* (2019), series, as The Cat (voice)
- *Drawing Home* (2017), as Edith Morse Robb
- *Mr. Mercedes* (2017), series, as Alma Lane
- *Half-Shell Heroes: Blast to the Past* (2015), as General Zera (voice)
- *The Principle* (2014), as Narrator
- *Divine Discontent: Charles Proteus Steinmetz* (2014), as Narrator
- *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), series, as Galina 'Red' Reznikov — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md)
- *Flatland²: Sphereland* (2012), as Over-Sphere (voice)
- *NTSF:SD:SUV::* (2011), series, as Kove
- *The Best and the Brightest* (2010), as The Player's Wife
- *Mercy* (2009), series, Actor
- *Warehouse 13* (2009), series, as Jane Lattimer
- *The Response* (2008), as Colonel Simms
- *The Black Donnellys* (2007), series, as Helen Donnelly
- *American Dad!* (2005), series, as June Rosewood (voice)
- *Perception* (2005), as Mary
- *Star Trek: Nemesis* (2002), as Admiral Janeway — Fi1m 50, [page](https://film.one/film/star-trek-nemesis.md)
- *Sisters in Resistance* (2001), as Narrator (voice)
- *Star Trek: Voyager - Scorpion* (2000), as Kathryn Janeway
- *Star Trek: Voyager - Future's End* (2000), as Kathryn Janeway
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Donna Geysen
- *Riddler's Moon* (1999), as Victoria Riddler
- *Star Trek: Voyager - Dark Frontier* (1999), as Kathryn Janeway
- *Rocketships* (1998), as Narrator
- *Star Trek: Voyager - Basics* (1996), as Kathryn Janeway
- *Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys* (1995), as Mrs. Pescoe
- *Star Trek: Voyager* (1995), series, as Kathryn Janeway
- *Gargoyles* (1994), series, as Anastasia Renard/Titania (voice), Titania (voice), Anastasia Renard (voice)
- *Camp Nowhere* (1994), as Rachel Prescott
- *Aladdin* (1994), series, Actor
- *For Love and Glory* (1993), as Antonia Doyle
- *Round Numbers* (1992), as Judith Schweitzer
- *Batman: The Animated Series* (1992), series, as Red Claw (voice)
- *Fatal Friendship* (1991), as Sue Bradley
- *Daddy* (1991), as Sara Watson
- *Man of the People* (1991), series, as Lisbeth Chardin
- *The Pirates of Dark Water* (1991), series, as Cressa (voice)
- *Captain Planet and the Planeteers* (1990), series, as Dr. Derek (voice)
- *Roots: The Gift* (1988), as Hattie Carraway
- *Murphy Brown* (1988), series, Actor — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/murphy-brown.md)
- *HeartBeat* (1988), series, as Dr. Joanne Springsteen
- *Throw Momma from the Train* (1987), as Margaret Donner — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/throw-momma-from-the-train.md)
- *Roses Are for the Rich* (1987), series, as Kendall Murphy
- *My Town* (1986), as Laura Adams
- *A Letter to Three Wives* (1985), as Addie Ross (voice)
- *Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins* (1985), as Maj. Rayner Fleming
- *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), series, as Sonny Greer, Joanna Rollins, Maude Gillis
- *St. Elsewhere* (1982), series, as Helen O'Casey — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/st-elsewhere.md)
- *Cheers* (1982), series, as Janet Eldridge — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/cheers.md)
- *Hotel* (1982), series, Actor
- *A Stranger Is Watching* (1982), as Sharon Martin
- *The Manions of America* (1981), series, as Rachel Clement
- *Lovespell* (1981), as Isolt
- *A Time for Miracles* (1980), as Mother Elizabeth Bayley Seton
- *Jennifer: A Woman’s Story* (1979), as Joan Russell
- *Mrs. Columbo* (1979), series, as Kate Columbo/Kate Callahan
- *The Word* (1978), series, as Tony Nicholson
- *Dallas* (1978), series, as Garnet McGee
- *The American Woman: Portraits of Courage* (1976), as Deborah Sampson
- *Alien Lover* (1975), as Susan
- *Ryan's Hope* (1975), series, as Mary Ryan Fenelli
- *Columbarium*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Kate Mulgrew](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-e304af6bdf00.jpg) Kate Mulgrew — Mike Muegel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Kate_Mulgrew_%2829404925682%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![The cast from the TV show "Orange is the New Black" at The Paley Center For Media's PaleyFest 2014 Honoring "Orange Is The New Black". From left in chairs: Exec](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-ba66864a3629.jpg) The cast from the TV show "Orange is the New Black" at The Paley Center For Media's PaleyFest 2014 Honoring "Orange Is The New Black". From left in chairs: Exec — Dominick D, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Cast_of_Orange_Is_The_New_Black_at_Paley_Fest.jpg/1280px-Cast_of_Orange_Is_The_New_Black_at_Paley_Fest.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Fan Expo Canada in Toronto in 2012.](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-efb7685cb0fb.jpg) Fan Expo Canada in Toronto in 2012. — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Fan_Expo_2012_-_Kate_Mulgrew_1_%287897343256%29.jpg/1280px-Fan_Expo_2012_-_Kate_Mulgrew_1_%287897343256%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Fan Expo Canada in Toronto in 2012.](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-85a4b6fde05c.jpg) Fan Expo Canada in Toronto in 2012. — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Fan_Expo_2012_-_Kate_Mulgrew_2_%287897344488%29.jpg/1280px-Fan_Expo_2012_-_Kate_Mulgrew_2_%287897344488%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kate Mulgrew](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-088e8bea5c15.jpg) Kate Mulgrew — Image via TMDB
- ![Kate Mulgrew](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-f77b3bdd311c.jpg) Kate Mulgrew — Image via TMDB
- ![Kate Mulgrew](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-923f0972d3e9.jpg) Kate Mulgrew — Image via TMDB
- ![Kate Mulgrew in 2016](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-47f298fff235.jpg) Kate Mulgrew in 2016 — Mike Muegel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Kate_Mulgrew_%2828888842894%29.jpg/1280px-Kate_Mulgrew_%2828888842894%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Star Trek Mission New York - Sun P2 @ 12PM - Voyager Cast Reunion 226 (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/47013/gallery-5fd069985dc5.jpg) Star Trek Mission New York - Sun P2 @ 12PM - Voyager Cast Reunion 226 (2016) — Mike Muegel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Kate_Mulgrew_%2828888843304%29.jpg/1280px-Kate_Mulgrew_%2828888843304%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kate-mulgrew