Katherine Langford (born April 29 1996) is an Australian actress. After appearing in several independent films, she had her breakthrough starring as Hannah Baker in the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why from 2017 to 2018, for which she received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. She went on to roles in the films Love, Simon (2018), Knives Out (2019), and Spontaneous (2020), and starred in the 2020 Netflix series Cursed.
Early life
Langford was born in Perth, Western Australia, and raised in Applecross, a riverside suburb of Perth. She is the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Langford (née Green), a pediatrician, and Stephen Langford, a flying doctor and director of medical services at the Royal Flying Doctor Service Western Operations. Her younger sister, Josephine Langford, is also an actress.
Langford began voice lessons with Heidi Lake in 2005, and received classical, jazz, and contemporary vocal training. She was offered a place at Perth Modern School for her senior high school years, where she studied music and drama, and was sports captain and a nationally ranked swimmer.
Initially during her time at high school, Langford was interested in medicine and politics in addition to musical theatre. In 2012, 17-year-old Langford attended a Lady Gaga concert, the Born This Way Ball, which inspired her to learn to play piano. She shared videos of herself singing three original songs she wrote: “I’ve Got a Crush on Zoe Bosch,” “Young and Stupid,” and “3 Words.” “Young and Stupid” is an anti-suicide song she wrote in 2013 after three Perth teens took their lives. For her final year at Perth Modern, Langford stopped swimming and switched her focus to music and performance. She was successful in a number of musical eisteddfods and drama competitions. Langford appeared in the school’s production of Hotel Sorrento in 2013 and graduated that same year.
After graduating high school, Langford was determined to become an actor. However, she was rejected from every acting school she applied to, on the grounds she was too young and did not have enough life experience. This led her to enrol in acting classes and workshops in Perth, juggling three part-time jobs, and later finding herself an agent. From 2014 to 2015, Langford studied at the Principal Academy of Dance & Theatre Arts, majoring in Music Theatre, and appeared in a production of Godspell. She was then one of five students selected to participate in the National Institute of Dramatic Arts Advanced Actors Residency in 2015. In the same year, she trained at Nicholson’s Academy of Screen Acting and portrayed the role of Juan Perón’s mistress in its 2015 production of Evita. Langford was offered a position in the Bachelor of Arts program in Acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and intended to begin studies in 2016. However, she never enrolled and instead pursued professional roles.
Career
Langford first appeared in several small independent films, including Story of Miss Oxygen (2015), Imperfect Quadrant (2016), and Daughter (2016). She portrayed the lead character in Daughter, which debuted at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. In 2016, after declining the offer from Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Langford auditioned for Will, a television series centred on the young life of William Shakespeare. She did not get the role.
Langford was then cast as Hannah Baker in the mystery teen drama TV series 13 Reasons Why, playing Baker for the series’ first two seasons. When she landed the role, she had only 10 days to get an O-1 visa as she had not worked in the United States before. She researched the role, speaking with a representative of the sexual assault awareness campaign “It’s On Us” and a psychiatrist who specializes in adolescence. Several critics lauded her performance as Baker; The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Langford’s heartbreaking openness makes you root for a fate you know isn’t possible. The actress’ performance is full of dynamic range, setting it against Minnette’s often more complicated task in differentiating between moods that mostly go from uncomfortable to gloomy to red-eyed, hygiene-starved despair.” She earned various awards and nominations for the role, including a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. On 25 May 2018, Langford confirmed that she would not return as Hannah Baker in the third season of the series.
Langford at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in 2018
In December 2016, she signed with the William Morris Endeavor agency. She then appeared in her first feature film, The Misguided, an independent comedy-drama by Shannon Alexander, which premiered in January 2018. She also starred as Leah in the 2018 film Love, Simon. On 12 September 2018, it was announced that Langford had been cast in the web television series Cursed. Set in an re-imagined Arthurian world, Langford portrays Nimue, a teenage girl destined to become the Lady of the Lake. It premiered on Netflix in July 2020.
In October 2018, she was cast in Avengers: Endgame. However, her scenes were cut from the final film, with directors the Russo brothers revealing Langford had been cast as a teenage version of Tony Stark’s daughter, Morgan. Her scene was removed as the change in actors confused the audience, and the directors realized there was no emotional connection with the character’s older version.
In 2019, Langford co-starred in Knives Out, a murder mystery film. The ensemble cast received critical acclaim, and she was part of various awards and nominations for the role, which include a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best Cast. In 2020, she starred in the film Spontaneous, which earned her a Critics’ Choice Super Awards nomination for Best Actress.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Love, Simon | Leah Burke | |
| The Misguided | Vesna | ||
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Morgan Stark | Deleted scene |
| Knives Out | Meg Thrombey | ||
| 2020 | Spontaneous | Mara Carlyle |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–2018; 2020 | 13 Reasons Why | Hannah Baker | Main role (seasons 1–2); guest (season 4; archival footage) |
| 2018 | Robot Chicken | Steffy (voice) | Episode: “No Wait, He Has a Cane” |
| 2020 | Cursed | Nimue | Main role |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | 13 Reasons Why | Nominated | |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | Best Actor in a Show | 13 Reasons Why | Nominated | ||
| People’s Choice Awards | The Drama TV Star of 2017 | 13 Reasons Why | Nominated | ||
| Satellite Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | 13 Reasons Why | Nominated | ||
| 2019 | National Board of Review | Best Cast | Knives Out | Won | |
| 2020 | Critics’ Choice Awards | Best Acting Ensemble | Knives Out | Nominated | |
| Gold Derby Awards | Best Ensemble | Knives Out | Nominated | ||
| Satellite Awards | Best Cast – Motion Picture | Knives Out | Won | ||
| 2021 | Critics’ Choice Super Awards | Best Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie | Spontaneous | Nominated |