Katie Elizabeth Walder was born on October 13, 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the youngest of 5 children - 2 brothers and two sisters. She started acting at a young age in musicals and plays in school, and did some print work as a young teen in such magazines as Teen and YM. She went on to study theatre in college, and had every intention of going to Yale Grad for acting, but landed a professional acting gig on 'All My Children', and continued to work in New York City in theatre with notable Broadway directors such as Michael Grief (original director for 'Rent'), Keith Reddin, and Daniel Aukin. Katie soon moved to Los Angeles and quickly landed her recurring role on Gilmore Girls as the quirky, tough, athletic roommate of Rory, Janet. She has been working steadily in Film and TV ever since, and I'm sure we are going to be seeing a lot more of her!

"All My Children" was her first professional audition in New York City, and she was originally up for the part of "Laura Kirk English", but landed the part of "Shannon" instead.Landed the part of 'Janet' on "Gilmore Girls" within a couple months of living in Los Angeles.