Name: Katherine Marie O'Neill
Hometown: Hillsborough, NC
Birthday: September 4th, 1983
Age: 21
Principal major at Gardner-Webb University: Music with a concentration in Vocal Performance
Height: 5'4"
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Brown
Favorite food: Lasagna
Favorite movies: While You Were Sleeping, Edward Scissorhands, Moulin Rouge, What About Bob
Favorite books: Jane Eyre, the Anne of Green Gables series
Interests: Avian rehabilitation, art, costuming, dance, and poetry

Q: Katie, when did you start getting into theatre and music?
A: Well, I started singing in my church praise team. After that point, things snowballed and I ended up in a whole lot of other choirs as well. My first solo work was in high school… I stood up to sing the first verse of Awesome God, and completely forgot all of the words!

As far as theatre goes, I began getting into that a little later with a group called the Valley Youth Theater. Since then, I’ve performed in plays and musicals such as James and the Giant Peach, Fame, Bye Bye Birdie, St. Nicholas, Chip and His Dog. Most recently, I’ve been involved with a musical theatre production called Toy Shoppe, for which I’m currently studying for the part of Pauline, a dancing doll that comes to life out of the love of her father, the toymaker. But really, though, I've been busy each semester preparing for my spring recital.

Q: Great. So, tell me a little bit about your role in “The Legacy”.
A: I played the role of Rebecca, a young woman in her first experiences out in the world on her own. Rebecca is the principal role in the film… she falls madly in love and everything is going well, but just as life is starting to look pretty good, some really strange things start to occur and she is forced to figure out on her own what’s going on.

Q: Interesting. How did you even end up hearing about the film?
A: I actually ended up just wandering into the auditions and picking up an application. Acting’s always been something that I’ve had an interest in, so I figured ‘why not?’ As it turns out, I was asked to read for the three main female roles, but I was pretty sure that I wanted the part of Rebecca. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get Rebecca’s part together in time for the filming schedule that we had; Dr. Lawrence had warned us in advance that this film would take up a lot of our time, and he was definitely right. It wasn’t always easy. I had to do a lot of planning, and at the time, I was involved with an opera theatre program as well, but I managed to find a suitable compromise between each rehearsal and each filming.

Q: Was there anything particularly challenging to you about your role in the film?
A: All in all, she wasn’t a hard character for me to take on. She reacted in very similar ways to the way I would have reacted, save a few scenes. The kissing scene was by far the hardest one for me, though. By far.

Q: Oh, come on, it couldn’t have been that hard…
A: Well, yes and no. I've seen lots of kissing in movies, but our noses still ended up colliding in some primeval brawl. Mark, the boy I was kissing, casually pulled up his jacket and whispered in my inexperienced ear, "Turn your head to the right." Thank goodness he was a kind boy.

Q: What about working with your other castmates? How was that?
A: Chelsea, who plays the role of Ivy, is very spunky. She carries with her a lot of charm and natural ability to make nearly any situation humorous, and Mark, who plays the role of John, is a sweetheart. He's an extremely brotherly guy, and he really knows how to make someone smile. He reminds me a great deal of Johnny Depp's character, Sam, in “Benny and Joon”

Q: How was working with Dr. Lawrence on this project?
A: He was very flexible, understanding, and especially encouraging. He was quite thorough, but it definitely paid off in the end to make a great movie. I can’t wait to see it.