Kate Levering

Kate Levering is an American actress and dancer born on January 3, 1979, in Sacramento, California. She attended El Camino Fundamental High School, where she participated in school musicals and dance classes, graduating in 1997 before relocating to New York City to pursue a professional career on Broadway.

Levering's Broadway career spanned from 1996 to 2001 and included productions such as Annie Get Your Gun, The Music Master, and A Life. Her most prominent stage role came in 2001, when she was cast as Peggy Sawyer in the revival of 42nd Street. The engagement lasted approximately three months, during which she was recorded for the cast album, though her performance was not preserved in the Lincoln Center Archives. Her work in the production earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, as well as the Fred Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer, recognizing her tap dancing in the show. Following 42nd Street, Levering joined the Broadway production of Thou Shalt Not, composed by Harry Connick, Jr. and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

After her Broadway run, Levering transitioned to television and film. Her early television appearances included guest roles on Home Improvement, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Cold Case, and Witchblade. In 2002, she portrayed Jeanne Martin in the television movie Martin and Lewis, which starred Sean Hayes and Jeremy Northam. In 2004, she played attorney Veronica Carter on the UPN series Kevin Hill, opposite Taye Diggs; the show was canceled in 2005 after one season. Additional guest appearances followed on CSI: Miami, Las Vegas, Medium, K-Ville, Ghost Whisperer, Cashmere Mafia, NCIS, and White Collar. From 2009 to 2014, Levering held the recurring role of Kim Kaswell on the Lifetime comedy-drama series Drop Dead Diva, a role for which she became widely recognized. Her real-life pregnancy during the series was incorporated into her character's storyline. She also appeared in the independent films Like Dandelion Dust in 2009 and Breaking the Girls in 2012. In 2016, she was cast as the adult Annette Hargrove in the NBC drama Cruel Intentions, based on the 1999 film in which the character had been portrayed by Reese Witherspoon.

In her personal life, Levering married businessman Reza Jahangiri on April 20, 2013, at The Beverly Hills Hotel. The couple's first son, Holden Robert Jahangiri, was born in July 2013. Levering announced the birth of a second son in March 2016.