Katie McGrath is by far my favourite actor. every project she takes on, she has put her whole heart into, her acting skills are on point and her performances are radiant. Katie has a rare trait, that I find not many performers can pull off; a special talent in regard to portraying a character’s emotion, that talent is her face. No, I don’t mean her beauty, (I mean, lets face it she is beautiful) I mean the way she can embody one specific emotion just with a tilt of her head, a furrow of her brow, a raise of an eyebrow, a clench of her jaw, a wrinkle of her nose. A lot of her acting comes from facial expressions, and the way her emotions shine through those expressions. Any performer can read a script, and hold their posture the way the director asks, and many of them can play their character well but not many can delve deep into and essentially become that character with a small little raise of an eyebrow.
Katie is underrated. Many of her previous roles before her big break were independent projects, TV shows that deserved to last longer than they did (we’ll swing back to that later), or small character arcs where she only appeared for a few episodes. When she finally did get her big break in Supergirl (Note: she had other large roles before, however it didn’t catapult her into the public eye the way Supergirl did) her name was cemented and her well deserved recognition was delivered to her.
In this blog post, I want to share my list of favourite characters she has played, because of the reasons below.
1. She is my favourite actor, my celebrity crush, and from what I have seen of her a down to earth person. She is not afraid to show how much of a silly person she is, how much she lives under a rock (she does not know how to work “the internet” as she calls it), and how well she treats her fans. she is a spokesperson for mental health, as she suffers from depression.
2. This month is PRIDE month, and Katie is a huge name in the LGBT community. She has represented/played many Lesbian/Bisexual characters. She’s also played characters that although their sexuality had not been stated on screen, she/creators of the show have stated the character was interested in women/intentionally had the subtext. Katie, while she has not stated her own sexuality (not that she owes anyone that) due to wanting to keep her life private (so private that she won’t even publicly disclose her birthday; only her age), she has not shied away from her support, being an ally and her personal pride of being part of the community due to the nature of her roles. Plus, she is one half of the most popular LBGT fictional ship (Ship = two characters people thought belonged together romantically) in TV History. Since it’s Pride Month I wanted to celebrate all she has given to the community.
3. I want to share these projects with others; as I am hoping maybe someone else will give one of her TV shows a chance, one of her movies a watch, and maybe she can get recognized for her work.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Lets get started 🙂
1. Lena Luthor
TV Show: Supergirl

Lena is a complex character and far from one dimensional. The amount of layers to this character are never ending. At first she comes off as a powerful CEO, with an icy persona. As time goes on we see that she has a good heart, opposite her brother Lex Luthor, she just wants to be her own kind of hero. She develops a friendship with Kara Danvers (Supergirl) and that friendship peels back other layers. We find out that she is scared of being labelled a Luthor, and people seeing her as ‘just like her brother’. We find out she has been hurt so many times in her past, that her ice queen persona is meant to keep people out because she is so terrified of getting hurt. We find out that she is pro-alien, and even works with Supergirl despite some turbulence in their relationship. As time progresses we see her trust both Kara Danvers and Supergirl, until her reality crashes down and she finds out they were the same person. One of Katies best acted scenes as Lena Luthor, was when Lena confronted Supergirl about knowing her identity, how her best friend betrayed her, and how Lena killed her brother for her, only to be blindsided and betrayed. (Video of scene Below)
After she and Kara Danvers/Supergirl mended their friendship, Lena began to shine more so in Season 6 (and so did Katie) when Lena’s heart was on her sleeve, her walls torn down, the heroic side on display, and she became part of Supergirl’s official team – meaning we got to see her save the world, and in action. What made Lena a phenomenal hero, was that she was human, and her scientific side is what drove her to greatness, the witch side of her, just enhanced a marvellous character. Katie played her perfectly, and I cannot think of the role played by anyone else. In the future, when a new Lena Luthor is cast in different supergirl projects, they have a lot to live up to (Then again so does Supergirl herself because Melissa Benoist is also phenomenal and their on screen chemistry made both their characters shine brightly, as they bounced off of one another well).







Bonus Fact: Katie was only slated for three episodes in season 2 as a guest star. Lena became a fan favourite instantly, and the show-runners decided to keep her on as a recurring character, and upped her to main cast in the third season.
PRIDE Bonus Fact (In honour of PRIDE Month): Lena was one of Katie’s characters with queer subtext. In an interview Katie said she thought Lena may have been the first character she played without any, but admitted she was wrong (and she did not mind, she actually supported the Lena and Kara romantic ship!)
2. Lucy Westenra
TV Show: Dracula

Katie graced TV screens as Lucy in only one season of Dracula, before the network axed it, despite successful ratings. The network decided to part ways with the show, in favour of the show Constantine (which ironically was also part of the arrowverse like Supergirl) which failed spectacular in the ratings field, and was cancelled. Anyway, enough about that, because it upsets me.
Lucy is a sweet, caring, a little meek, and beautiful woman who fits into the rich population of London (UK). She’s a dedicated friend, who in the pilot, that’s what her role is, Mina’s best friend. As the show continues Lucy shines, we see her suffer because she is in love with her best friend, who is about to marry, and the emotions we see break my heart. I imagine unrequited love would hurt, I was lucky to never experience that to a full extent (childhood crushes don’t count) and seeing how Katie portrays that on screen, is so powerful and you truly feel for Lucy, as if you are feeling what she is feeling. Not only does Lucy feel a love, that she can never have for Mina, but she has to see her happy with her fiancé Jonathan in the beginning, only to watch her fall in love with Dracula himself.
Then there is Lady Jane, who opens Lucy up to admitting her sexuality to her, uses it against her to gain her trust, gives her advice to tell Mina how she feels, which she knows will cause Lucy’s heart to break, and then after Mina rejects her and shatters Lucy’s heart even more so than it already was, Lady Jane convinces Lucy to sleep with Jonathan to get back at Mina. We then have to watch Lucy swallow her sexuality, force herself to sleep with Jonathan (Not all fans liked this direction, as they thought it wasn’t obvious that Lucy was struggling in the scene – as a viewer myself I think it was a little more obvious, especially since we know Lucy was shown to be a good at hiding how she felt), and then when she can’t keep the secret from Mina, loses her best friend and woman she is in love with when she tells her the truth. Then poor Lucy pays for the betrayal with her life, as Dracula turns her into a vampire.
We watch as Katie plays the ups and downs of Lucy’s emotions, her roller coaster ride of love, self acceptance, and hatred for not only others but herself, and the bitter pain in her heart to perfection.
I do recommend this show, not just because of Katie McGrath and her great performance, but the story line is good, and it has a well rounded cast!







Bonus Fact: Katie was quite upset when they cancelled Dracula, as it was her dream project. She re-thought acting when it was cancelled!
PRIDE Bonus Fact (In honour of PRIDE Month): The onscreen kiss she shared with Victoria Smurfit (Lady Jane) was improvised; the directors let Victoria lead the scene, and she decided it was the perfect thing to do in the moment. They kept the take!
3. Morgana Pendragon
TV Show: Merlin

I still haven’t finished every episode, but even with that in mind, Morgana by far is an amazing character, and Katie does so well, bringing her to life. Her story was tragic, and you can feel it as Katie portrays a woman who is crumbling, and breaking, and morphing into the villain we know and love.
Morgana starts off as a good woman, with a good heart. her character is easy to fall in love with and you instantly care about Morgana in the first episode. When she almost dies a few episodes later, you actually feel your heart clench because this innocent, good hearted woman is about to die, and you hold your breath as Merlin works to save her. It was a train wreck of an episode, but luckily she is saved and we get to see more of Morgana.
We watch Morgana go from a good woman, who harboured her secret that she had magic in a magic banned society, who loved her friends, and would never harm them, to a villain who wants to be queen, embraces her magic, and wants them all dead. Watching that transition and the way Katie portrays it is beautiful. I believe the best part of Morgana’s story, is that she was not born evil, she was made evil. Merlin poisoned her and tried to kill her; because she was a tether to a spell (Her sister put the town to sleep, and made Morgana the tether to the spell); A spell that Morgana didn’t cast and despite her not being at fault for the spell, he tried to kill her to save everyone else. Morgana was betrayed, and she herself had been put to sleep, and most likely didn’t understand what was happening. After that, her back is turned on him, and it was just one thing after the other. Uther who has made Morgana believe she was his best friend’s daughter, when she was actually his daughter and wasn’t claimed by him; therefore she truly was the next one in line for the throne. That betrayal was a lot, followed by many other events, and a villain was created.
Katie dedicated herself to the part of Morgana, she had to put more effort than her cast mates in because she was the only one who hadn’t gone to acting school, it was her first major television role, and she wasn’t a household name. She learned how to sword fight, among other things, to fully embrace her character and play her with perfection.
Supergirl may have put Katie on the map to a more worldwide audience, and catapulted her career, but Merlin is what began that career.







Bonus Fact: Katie almost lost out on her role because both she and Colin Morgan were both Irish! Show-runners did not want both main characters to have an Irish accent, luckily for Katie, Colin was able to nail an English accent, and she got to use her natural Irish accent.
PRIDE Bonus Fact (In honour of PRIDE Month): Morgana’s sexuality was never confirmed in the show itself. However she showed no interest in men throughout the series, did not have a love interest. During dvd commentary with Katie, and creator/showrunner/director it was mentioned that Morgana intentionally had lesbian undertones/subtext.
4. Saskia De Merindol
TV Show: Secret Bridesmaids’ Business

Saskia is many things. She’s a strong, mildly corrupt, high powered lawyer. She’d do anything for her friends. She’d never commit to someone romantically. She’s emotionally messy. She’s an unashamed bisexual and not once did she second guess protecting her best friend/woman she was in love with, Olivia. When a man, who had an affair with one of her other friends, Melanie, starts stalking her, Saskia provides support and is there for her and tries her best to help her stop it. Unfortunately he soon attaches himself to Olivia, and Saskia gets pulled into an intense showdown in the end of the series.
Saskia battles PTSD during the series after the stalker attacks her, almost strangling her to death, and begins attaching herself to a gun, and making sure she does anything she needs to do, to protect her, and her friends.
All throughout that, she embezzled from her company to save Olivia’s family company, seeks help from an ex to pay it off, manages not to get caught and gets promoted, and fears the loss of her best friend when they fear Olivia’s cancer has returned. Much like Lucy (her character above in Dracula), we see Saskia battle unrequited love, as she too is painfully in love with her best friend, and the emotions Katie pours into that and brings that out in Saskia, is gut wrenching.
It’s a shame it was a limited 6-episode special; because seeing more of Saskia would have been a great treat.







Bonus Fact: Katie gave herself no break during Supergirl’s filming hiatus, as she filmed this during that time, in Australia!
PRIDE Bonus Fact (In honour of PRIDE Month): This was Katie’s third queer character in the order of her filmography (First was Morgana, who although it was not mentioned in the show was admitted by creator after the show, followed by Kate in Dates, leading us to Saskia). It was also her second queer character, who was in love with a best friend that did not love her back.
5. Sarah Bennett
TV Show: Slasher

This Canadian anthology series, was the first TV show that I saw with Katie in it. At the time, I thought she was an amazing actress, who held her own in this horror show, and of course I thought she was beautiful.
Katie really can play any character in any genre, from supernatural to superhero to drama to romance to horror, she can master any/all of it.
Sarah Bennett starts the series as your typical girl next door. Quiet, sweet, big hearted, and a stunning smile, Sarah is the definition of girl next door; until we dig deeper into her past. The house she moves into was left to her by her parents who had been murdered by a killer when she was an unborn baby (she survived because the killer cut her out of her mother’s womb!). She finds out her mother and father were up to shady things, the man she thought was her father, wasn’t. Her biological father was the killer known as the Executioner, who killed her parents, who she connects with during the series because she needs his help, as someone copying the Executioner has surfaced and is after her.
As the show progresses we see Sarah spiral, fall into a game of cat and mouse, fight to survive, and watch those around her get murdered. Katie does a great job playing the character, and as you watch Sarah devolve, and find her strength to beat the killer, you can feel Katie’s performance because it radiates off of the screen.







Bonus Fact: Slasher was the show she had starred in right before landing Supergirl. Katie didn’t sign on for season two, because she chose to take the part of Lena Luthor.
(This does not feature a PRIDE fact as Katie plays a straight character, so below is an extra fact)
Bonus Fact: Slasher is filmed in a small Ontario town. It was Katie’s first project filmed in Canada, followed by Frontier, and then Supergirl (which was filmed in Vancouver). Katie fell in love with Canada, and in addition to her place in the UK, she also has a home in Vancouver where she resides.
6. Jules Daly
Movie: A Princess For Christmas

A Princess For Christmas Is my favourite Christmas movie (unfortunately I forgot to put it on my recent favourite movie blog, which is blasphemy). It’s a feel good rom-com, and Jules is a great character, not a typical, boring, over used character that appears in most rom-coms, and I believe that is thanks to Katie’s portrayal.
She brings out the emotions that Jules is feeling, a year after losing her sister and brother-in-law, and taking in their kids as a single parent. She is contacted by the children’s royal grandfather from her brother-in-laws side, and although she is apprehensive she takes the invitation to spend Christmas at his royal home.
Through the movie, she struggles with her nephew who is making her life harder as he misses his parents, and hates Christmas because of the previous holiday season when they passed away. People judge her because she is a clumsy, goofy American who is out of her element. All the while the prince, who is engaged to be married to a woman in high standing, falls in love with her.





Bonus Fact: Katie, who plays Jules a woman in her mid twenties, and the actor (Travis Turner) who plays Milo, her 15/16 year old nephew, are only four years apart in real life! The actor was much older than his character.
(This does not feature a PRIDE fact as Katie plays a straight character, so below is an extra fact)
Bonus Fact: Despite most actors being able to use their natural UK accent in the film, Katie had to hide her Irish accent, as she played an American character, however you can hear it slip out at times!
7. Gloria
Movie: The Throwaways

The Throwaways was a good action movie, despite its low budget; something you need to keep in mind while watching it.
The characters were an ensemble cast, which made up a group of discarded agents/misfits (hence the name Throwaways) that were chosen to help our main character, a hacker, stop another hacker who can access 80 percent of the world electronics from a laptop, threatening the world as they could do anything, including shutting things down, etc. Our main character chooses Gloria to be part of his team, who was used in most of her assignments as a woman who could use her beauty and feminine wiles to gather information from powerful/dangerous men.
Her skills are sadly under utilized, and most people don’t realize they exist, but he chooses her to be apart of his team, and we get to see Gloria’s skills come out, as she shows up all the guys with a perfect sniper shot, going toe to toe with one of the villains, killing her after a fight that she won with minimal effort.
Gloria was a treat as you saw this woman grow. She was underestimated because of her beauty, and was actually a talented agent, who could have been an asset to the government long before this, if they hadn’t dismissed her.







Bonus Fact: This movie was a Crackle original. Crackle was a streaming service that tried to get off the ground, but failed shortly after due to high profile streaming services like Netflix.
(This does not feature a PRIDE fact as Katie plays a presumed straight character, so below is an extra fact)
Bonus Fact: This film is low budget, but it works to its advantage as they use some of it as humour in the movie.
8. Kate
TV Show: Dates

Dates was a series, where each episode features a different love story, with two characters falling in love. Some Episodes will feature an update on a couple down the line, but not always. Katie was part of a love story between her character Kate and Erika.
At first, when we meet Kate she’s a tad mysterious, alluring, and the opposite of shy, and will go after what she wants. However, due to the pain she has been put through in her past by an EX who was bisexual and left her for a man, she is apprehensive of dating Erika; as she finds out during their date Erika is in the closet, and is to marry a man according to her traditional family. Kate comes off as Biphobic, which can put some people off of Kate and dislike the character, but anyone can see she only acts that way because of her past pain.
As the date continues, and her attitude shifts, the date shifts into a good place as they dance on the dance floor of the bar they’re at, and their night concludes by the two being intimate. The rest of their story is angsty as it takes place in the bedroom the next morning, where they need to communicate what the future holds for them, when Kate realizes Erika is still in the closet, and how she will cope with that. We find out in an episode later down the line in the season, when Erika re-appears that she and Kate are still together.







Bonus Fact: Katie claims she can’t dance, yet has a dancing scene with co-star Gemma Chan!
Bonus PRIDE Fact (In honour of PRIDE Month): Katie had a girl crush on her co-star, and claimed Gemma Chan was prettier than her. (which is simply not true)
9.The Adjudicator
TV Show: The Continental

I myself have not seen the full show; I have however watched Katie’s scenes on YouTube. I did not want to invest time in the show itself, as I have never seen John Wick and honestly Katie was the only reason I would have had for watching it. I was mildly disappointed when I found out she only appeared in 5 minutes per episode (and it was only a three episode event).
There isn’t much character development, as the villain she plays is in the series only in small amounts, but Katie does a great job at making a character intimidating, and gut churning, in the small amount that she graced screens in this series.
This series is her most recent piece of work, and according to many news outlets, Katie’s adjudicator stole the show, even through her small amount of screen time. Katie’s appearance of the Adjudicator also broke twitter (now known as X) as she was trending, and all results of the show yielding only Katie results, and her co-star John Cryer (Lex Luthor in Supergirl) even said “Katie McGrath Stans….Activate!” his own tweet becoming trending.
Unfortunately her character doesn’t survive; but at least we got the performance that she gifted us.







Bonus Fact: This is the third villainous role played by Katie McGrath. The others being Morgana Pendragon in Merlin and Orlane Congost in Labyrinth (TV Mini Series).
Bonus PRIDE Fact (In honour of PRIDE Month): The Adjudicator in the films is queer; in the TV Show, her orientation is not specified, as she is not interested in romance.
10. Zara
Movie: Jurassic World

This movie was the first film I saw with Katie in it; Slasher was the first TV Show; however this happened first. Her part was quite small, and it took me a while to realize that amazing woman from Slasher that I became a huge fan of, was in Jurassic World.
We didn’t learn much about Zara, other than the fact that she did not care about babysitting the nephews of the main character, just wanted to plan her wedding, and was completely overworked by her boss.
What makes Katie’s role in this movie memorable is her characters sudden death, and the way it happened. In fact her death has become the most memorable, and brutal in the complete movie series; most character deaths happen quick; but Zara’s was long in runt time for a character death, and despite not being gory or bloody, was quite brutal. Fans of the movie series have even dubbed this the most brutal death.
She was grabbed by a Pterodactyl (or a Pterodactyl like dinosaur), she is dropped several times as she is tossed from one Pterodactyl to another; eventually she is dropped several times over the water, and caught by the flying dinosaur every time, almost drowning, just as the dinosaur flies up with a better grip the Mosasaurus rises from the water and opens his mouth taking both Zara and the Pterodactyl into it’s mouth, eating them both.





Bonus Fact: Katie did all her own stunts in this movie.
(This does not feature a PRIDE fact as the gender of Zara’s fiancé is never disclosed; however it is assumed to be a man)
Bonus Fact: Zara is remembered by most Jurassic World fans due to her death.
11. Jodi
Movie: Leading Lady

This movie was not my favourite, although it had good potential, I feel it lacked in certain areas. Katie and Bok van Blerk had no on-screen chemistry making it hard to believe the love story, not to mention the kiss scenes were hard to stomach as he looked as if he was trying to swallow her face, while she seemed to be pulling away from the kiss while still attempting to complete her kiss scene; which made the on screen kisses odd to watch; and honestly a little awkward. In this instance I blame him, and not her acting skills.
All of that aside, her character was the best part. A teacher that yearns to be a famous actress, gets involved in a play in South Africa, and connects with a family while she is there.
Her character was sweet, kind hearted, and a pleasure to watch.
I’d watch the movie again mostly for Jodi and Katie’s portrayal of her.







Bonus Fact: Katie is Irish, but in this film she takes on a British accent, which she could not master early on in her career as she almost lost out on Morgana, because she had to keep her Irish accent and could not nail an English accent (See Morgana Bonus fact above).
(This does not feature a PRIDE fact as Katie plays a straight character)
Although the following did not make my list of favourite Katie characters. I recommend checking out the following projects that Katie has been in: Frontier (A Canadian TV Show), Buttons (A Musical Christmas Movie – she does not sing), Labyrinth (A TV mini series), The Queen (She guest starred in one episode, opposite her Merlin co-star), Red Mist – AKA Freakdog – (Her first horror project – she’s only had two with this and Slasher), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (A movie she had a small role in – also taking place in Arthur times, much like Merlin).
I also make YouTube videos, which I usually do for fun, and many of them have gathered many views. My most popular video (which is unrelated to Katie) has 368K views (as of writing this). Below I have embedded a few videos I have made, focusing on Katie, for Katie’s fandom, but also to show my respect. Two of them are focused on Katie herself, and the other two are focused on the characters she has played. Please give them a watch, if not for Katie herself, then to support my YouTube channel and to hear the great songs that go with them! (P.s. if you cannot view them, it is because mobile may not allow it and you may have to go to a computer).
Title: Katie McGrath – Unstoppable (This is a video combination of her characters)
Title: Katie McGrath – Beautiful (Clips of Katie, being well…Katie)
Title: Katie McGrath {Filmography} – The Greatest (This is a video combination of her characters)
Title: Katie McGrath – Classic
Bonus Video:
I made a video dedicated to Morgana, one of the characters above. I decided to share it here; because I love seeing Morgana’s evil in all its glory. And well, to promote my YouTube channel.
Title: Morgana Pendragon – Dark Side
Thank you for reading this long blog post; and I have more blog posts coming. There will some music ones coming, some more PRIDE posts as it’s PRIDE month, and I will be starting something new where I will be writing short stories based on prompts that have been given to me (for example – Prompt: write a scene where a person is running from a masked killer), however I am unsure when that will start.












































































































































































































































































































































