Katrina Bowden is a deft supporting comic actor whose likeability survives blunt lines and foolish situations. We value her most when a part allows some sympathy, as Allison does in Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.
Fi1m perspective
In Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010), Katrina Bowden's Allison tries to bring reason to a situation thoroughly unsuited to it. She offers welcome relief from the panic without stopping the comedy. We laughed at those attempts at calm discussion because everyone else's understanding of the situation makes them so hopeless. Bowden is an effective supporting comic actor, particularly when she has someone sympathetic to play rather than another variation on the pretty, naive young woman.
30 Rock (2006–2013) gave her the breakthrough as Cerie, a recurring part that became a regular one. In an ensemble whose workplace friction depends so much on Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, Bowden's comic timing gives a smaller character enough definition to register. She can deliver a blunt or naive line and leave the person saying it likeable, a useful skill in a programme crowded with expertly judged foolishness. Her early roles could also confine her to being attractive and apparently dim. Being good at that work is no reason to be confined to it.
Allison gives her more to work with, and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil remains the clearest reason to seek her out. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk carry the film through the affection between their characters, leaving her the less conspicuous task of responding sensibly to the panic. She takes Allison's wish to calm things down seriously enough that we can care about her while enjoying the confusion. The central misunderstanding does wear thin; her performance cannot supply endless variations on the same joke. It can, however, give us a person worth keeping company with amid the gore.
Speaking about joining Public Morals (2015), she said, “I always wanted to go the dramatic route.” That series, followed by a main role in The Bold and the Beautiful (2019–2021), took her beyond the sitcom casting. We would welcome more parts that give her Allison's capacity for sympathy as well as a joke to deliver. Start with the horror-comedy, provided extravagant gore is an acceptable part of the evening.
Biography
Katrina Bowden is an American actress. She was born on 19 September 1988 in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and attended Saint Thomas More School in Midland Park and Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township.
She made her acting debut in a two-episode arc on the soap opera One Life to Live in 2006. Bowden gained recognition for her role as Cerie on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013), appearing as a regular from the second season. As part of the ensemble cast, she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2009.
Her film credits include Sex Drive (2008), Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010), American Reunion (2012), Piranha 3DD (2012), Scary Movie 5 (2013) and Nurse 3-D (2013). She later had a main role as Florence "Flo" Fulton on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2019–2021).
