There was no intense formal training on her part aside from a few acting and improv classes and she barely knew her way around town but she soon settled in an apartment with a few others, worked part-time jobs, and tried to make her newfound dream come true. After mainly working for free, with friends around town, and in student films, Director Jake Scott took a chance on the girl who had barely any films under her belt and cast her in Welcome to the Riley’s, featuring James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo.
Though she was an unknown at the time, he stated that he wanted to have someone who the public didn’t know for the part of the misunderstood Mallory and further explained and defended some of her methods while talking to reporters who later inquired about them, stating “I cast her right and it’s really my first experience of working with somebody that young who was so determined to do justice to the girl she was playing. And she did a lot of work in New Orleans where I put her in contact with a stripper, even though you don’t really see her stripping in the film – I didn’t want to show that. I felt that the audience didn’t need to be looking at strippers, it would have felt like a cheap shot to me and there’s too many films with strippers in where the filmmaker exploits that and I felt that actually this film was about the exact opposite of exploitation. But nonetheless she felt that it was very necessary to put herself in that position and actually go to a club and strip and learn how to work a man in the VIP room, you know, all that stuff. And she did, she ate badly, chain smoked, didn’t sleep, stayed out of the sun and made herself generally really ill for this role and it all came across.” She managed to impress him with the dedication she gave and from there, some more roles starting coming her way.
Not exactly a familiar face, her career had never really turned out exactly the way she wanted it to. She got roles, but they were never the breakthrough roles that she was waiting for, and so when the auditions for Ex Machina came around she wasn’t even on the list of girls to be considered for the part but her manager booked her an audition and she failed at it the first time around. She was late due to traffic as well as an almost collision which meant she had to run out of her taxi and to the audition room. Needless to say, she appeared in a frenzy when she busted through those doors. In a weird turn of events, it was a refreshing take on what they thought was a very boxed in role even if she may not have looked the part they envisioned at first. The audition was filled with girls who played that same toughness but Kaitlin offered a new take on it. It wasn’t that great of an audition, but they found her refreshing enough to ask her to come in once again and that’s when they really saw what she could do and she was bumped up near the top of the list before eventually getting the role.
Suddenly her star credibility had shot up. Kaitlin didn’t realize what exactly what she was getting into until she was completely thrown into it with her twitter follower count shooting up, plenty more colorful comments thrown her way, and more interviews to do. She isn’t exactly as “media trained” as her crew would like, whether she’s saying the first thing that comes to mind while doing an interview, choosing to comment on something negative rather than ignore it, or do things that make the rumor mill and tabloids swirl but she is actually having fun with everything at the moment without focusing too much on the consequences of her actions. She just has a bigger platform for her interesting personality and she has no problem showing that off.
Perhaps most predominently, there were rumors and an account from an on set intern circling around about the disagreements she and Noah Baumbach had on the set of While We're Young because of their different creative styles. There was even an awkward interview when the cast did a q&a where fans speculated on the way they behaved towards each other because it went from making sly jabs, to laughing at inside jokes, and then seemingly hitting nerves and being short with each other. Confusion continued when it was announced that despite all of those claims, Kaitlin would be a lead in his next film written with Greta Gerwig, Mistress America.
Through it all she works hard at what she does and enjoys acting which she wants to showcase even if there are some bumps along the way. She's willing to take risks with the characters she is given and she likes to find unorthodox ways to help her get into her characters.
As a friend, though her close friends are minimal and acquaintances are vast, she’s a good time. She likes to party, enjoys a good adventure at any time of the day, and marches to the beat of her own drum. She provides entertainment in the form of rounding up exciting get togethers and being unafraid of eyes around her. If she is feeling left out, picked apart or is just in a mood she might lash out dramatically.
As a girlfriend, she is exciting and turbulent. Very unpredictable with showing select parts of herself more than others and allowing her emotions and impulses to rule her more often than not.
As a media presence, there's a lot of talk on all ends of the spectrum surrounding her. She doesn’t always come off as some media darling that her crew of people would desperately like her to be but the large reaction to Ex Machina came in faster than anyone could've expected so she was thrust into mainstream Hollywood world in an instant. She says whatever is on her mind without thinking too much of it which gets people appreciating her colorful humor but also means some people won’t care for it. If she’s not in the mood for an interview there’s a good chance it shows through with her dry & sarcastic answers. She's been seen out & about partying. She's said her share of odd & problematic things. There's been some interest in her sexuality on the L Chat forums. She showcases her sometimes peculiar personality with a supernatural web series she does with former co-star Andrew Bates. There's definitely a meme with her resting bitchface being passed around on Tumblr. She has no problem using Twitter as her own personal journal wafting between being completely random to calling people out to writing silly content.
