#TuesdayTopic: Inspiring Women Featuring Kathryn Joosten

Reprinted from an IG Post

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Continuing with our new #tuesdaystopic series featuring women who made it happen in midlife, today I’m talking about Kathryn Joosten, the actress best known for her roles as Mrs. Landingham on the West Wing and Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives. We just finished a LONG West Wing binge over here, and she was such a natural that I was surprised to learn that she didn’t start acting until she was in her 40’s! In fact, she didn’t land her first TV job until she was in her 50’s.

Hers was a very non-linear path. She actually started her career as a psychiatric nurse. She married, had two boys, stopped working and moved to the suburbs, but divorced 10 years later. In need of money, she took on multiple odd jobs, hanging wallpaper, working in sales, and managing photoshoot locations. She made her theater debut after enrolling her kids in a community theater program (it was cheaper than day care!). Other small parts followed, and she fell in love with acting.

Circumstances were not ideal to pursue a show business career, but she kept working her day jobs and figured out a way to make it work. She was deeply impacted by her mother, who died at age 49 full of regret that she would never fulfill her many deferred dreams. She kept at it, and made her way to Hollywood, becoming an Emmy Award winning actress into her 50’s. None of it happened overnight, but she followed her dreams and in her words, “kept aiming down the path that seemed to shine before me.”

A little Tuesday reminder that it’s never too late!