Best Known As: Television Actor

Gist:  Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American pop and R&B singer, songwriter, actress, model, and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol, eventually finishing as the runner-up.

Her self-titled debut album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, and has sold 375,000 copies to date. The album's lead single, Over It, went Gold in 2008. She also established an acting career, most notably co-starring in The House Bunny in 2008.

Life Facts:  Born in Los Angeles, California, McPhee moved with her family to Sherman Oaks at age 12. McPhee has been singing since the age of two. Her mother, Patricia Burch McPhee (stage name Peisha Arten), a vocal coach and accomplished cabaret singer, recognized her daughter's musical talent and decided to train her. Her father, Daniel McPhee, is a television producer. McPhee has an older sister, Adriana. McPhee is of Irish, Scottish and German descent.

McPhee attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where she performed in school plays and musicals. She graduated in 2002.

McPhee attended Boston Conservatory for three semesters, majoring in musical theater. She left the college on the advice of her manager and returned to Los Angeles to try out for television pilots. In a People news article, it was reported that she was rejected for "195 out of 200 auditions."

McPhee struggled with eating disorders in the past. She told People (magazine) that at age 13 she began starving herself and exercising compulsively, and she became bulimic at age 17. McPhee gained weight in college due to her binging. After seven years of illness, she finally entered a three-month rehab program after successfully passing her American Idol audition; her rehab stint ended just before the Idol semifinals started in February 2006. During her run on American Idol, she lost 30 pounds due to eating better as part of her treatment. Now, as she told Teen Vogue in May 2007, "I eat whatever I crave?I'm just really careful about portions."

McPhee and her sister appeared on debut of The Dr. Keith Ablow Show on September 18, 2006, to discuss her struggles with bulimia and her childhood fear of her father. On the show, McPhee stated that she was misdiagnosed with a learning disability during her middle school years but was finally correctly diagnosed with a vision problem that caused her to have trouble reading in class. McPhee claimed she was known as the "pretty, but stupid" girl in school because she had trouble reading.

On February 2, 2008, McPhee married her boyfriend, Nick Cokas, who is nearly 20 years her senior, in a Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.

Career Facts:  McPhee was cast (during the time she had dropped out of college and was auditioning in Los Angeles) in a mall-based MTV soap opera pilot entitled You Are Here, playing the older sister of a more popular younger sister. MTV never aired the pilot and didn't pick up the series.

McPhee had a small role as "Paramount Girl" in the 2007 musical film Crazy, based on the life of Hank Garland. McPhee filmed the role in early 2005, before she auditioned for American Idol.

In early 2007, McPhee guest-starred in the web series, lonelygirl15 as an unnamed character in the episode "Truth Or Dare".

McPhee made a cameo appearance as herself on the ABC show Ugly Betty in the episode "I'm Coming Out". The episode was broadcast Feb 1, 2007.

McPhee made her studio acting debut in the comedy The House Bunny (formerly known as I Know What Boys Like), co-starring as one of the few members of a misfit sorority. The movie starred Anna Faris as a playboy bunny who took the girls under her wing. It was directed by Fred Wolf for Columbia Pictures and Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. The film was released in August 2008 and co-starred Rumer Willis, Emma Stone, Colin Hanks, and Tyson Ritter.

In 2009, McPhee landed a lead role in a romantic-comedy, tentatively titled "You May Not Kiss the Bride". The budget was set at $6 million. The movie filmed for 5 weeks in March and April 2009 in Oahu, Hawaii. McPhee played the role of Masha, alongside Dave Annable. The film is scheduled to be released sometime in 2010.

McPhee guest starred on the CBS show CSI: NY in the episode "Prey" as a singer and stalker victim who murdered her stalker. The episode was broadcast April 8, 2009.