Katharine Towne

Although she had filmed a role in the unaired David Lynch pilot "Mulholland Drive" in spring of 1999, Towne did not make her television debut until October 1999 with a fearsome turn as a venomous vampire able to find the heroine's weakness on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (The WB). She was set to star in the midseason replacement series "M.Y.O.B." on NBC, an edgy, acerbic take on high school comedy created by "The Opposite of Sex" director Don Roos. Not unlike Christina Ricci's despicable yet oddly likable character in that feature, Towne's take on sarcastic runaway Riley Veatch was remarkably multi-layered yet still bluntly funny. Shot in one-camera style, nearly all of the show featured Towne and her cutting voiceover dominated the series. The actress proved to be the most watchable aspect of the somewhat uneven program. Shortly after the June berth of "M.Y.O.B.," Towne hit the big screen again with roles in three summer 2000 releases, the sexual preference deprogramming comedy "But I'm a Cheerleader," the eerily Machiavellian social climbing tale "In Crowd" and the Michelle Pfeiffer-Harrison Ford supernatural mystery "What Lies Beneath." The following year, she was featured in the touching romantic comedy "Town & Country," starring her dad's pal Warren Beatty.