US actress Kate Mulgrew shares her cinematic and literary influences

American actress Kate Mulgrew, 71, discussed the films, books and personal experiences that have shaped her career.

Mulgrew, who grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, first achieved fame in 1975 as the lead in the TV soap opera Ryan’s Hope. She later headlined Star Trek: Voyager from 1995, earning several awards, and appeared in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She now stars in RTÉ One’s The Galway Bay Murders.

When asked about the movie that moved her most, Mulgrew named David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago, which she has seen 32 times. She said the film helped her cope with the loss of two sisters before she turned 18 and inspired her path into acting.

She also cited French cinema, mentioning François Truffaut and Claude Le Louch’s A Man and a Woman, as well as American classics such as The Deer Hunter, The Godfather, and the works of playwright Henrik Ibsen.

Mulgrew’s mother, a painter, encouraged her to read Irish author John McGahern, urging her to understand the Irish experience through works like That They May Face the Rising Sun.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Charlotte May / Pexels.