I'M CATHRYN.
I'm short, I play a lot of instruments, and I have a deep, insatiable love for udon noodles. 🍜
Throughout my career, I've specialized in originating roles in new work. My favorite thing is being in a room with brilliant creatives and building something from the ground up.
If we don't know each other, say hey. Let's see what we can make together.
(Here n' queer!)
you might know me from:
Cathryn Wake (she/her) is an actor, musician, and composer based in New York City. She made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 at the Imperial Theater.
As a stage actor, Cathryn has specialized in originating characters in new work. These roles in world-premiere productions include Jean Kerr, wife of Senator Joseph McCarthy, in Joe DiPietro’s Conscience (George Street Playhouse), women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul in The Suffragist (GBPAC), real-life WWI veteran Louise LeBreton in The Hello Girls (Off-Broadway), Vicky/Victor/Vivian in 53% Of (Second Stage), Mara in Well-Intentioned White People (Barrington Stage), and Maggie in The Seedbed (New Jersey Rep).
Other notable theatre credits include Luisa in The Fantasticks (Off-Broadway), The Other Josh Cohen (Off-Broadway), The Glass Menagerie (Pittsburgh Public), The Second Girl (CATF), Loch Ness (The Rev), and Ebenezer Scrooge’s…Christmas Show (The Old Globe).
On television, she has appeared on “Madam Secretary”, “Glee”, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (as featured vocalist), “America's Got Talent”, “The Today Show”, “Good Morning America”, and “The 71st Annual Tony Awards”.
Cathryn received her BFA from Pace University and received the Classical Acting Certificate from the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. Cast albums: The Great Comet, The Hello Girls.
Her actor-musician rock musical, Red Giant, is the recipient of the 2025 Spark Grant from the Jeffrey L. Nissen Arts Education & Development Fund and is currently in development. redgiantmusical.com
media
PRESS
On "THE GLASS MENAGERIE" at Pittsburgh Public Theater
"Wake’s crackled cadence, befuddled stare, and unsettled demeanor, coupled with a debilitating physical presence that cries for humanity, makes for a gut-wrenching performance that takes your breath away."
-PGH Collective
"Wake's depiction of Laura awakened the memory referred to in the opening narration...it is something primal. Whatever ails sweet Laura, Wake invokes."
-Megan Grabowski, Roving Pittsburgher Report
"Cathryn Wake as Laura has, perhaps, the hardest job in the cast...yet, Wake's performance is quite effective and her character's sincerity is keenly felt throughout."
-Chris Bondi, Times Online
Photo: PPT
On "THE SECOND GIRL" at The Contemporary American Theater Festival
"What makes it a comedy more than anything else is Cathryn Wake's electrifying performance as Cathleen, a confection of flashing eyes, red hair, a tell-the-truth-and-shame-the-devil attitude, and naked ambition. Her vivacity is inescapable..."
-Jack L. B. Gohn, Broadway World
"Cathryn Wake is delightfully precocious and confident as Cathleen, Bridget's niece and the high spirited younger maid. Wake was wonderfully flirtatious and vivacious as a spitfire Irish girl who dreams of becoming an actress."
-Johnna Leary, Broadway World
"Cathryn Wake, meanwhile, has entirely too much fun as the scenery-chewing Cathleen, with stentorian deliveries of Shakespeare that seem taken right off the old 78's. And yet it is the joyfulness of her ambition which renders Cathleen's later reversal of fortune all the more affecting, and Wake keeps you riveted as she contemplates what she has lost."
-Andrew White, MD Theatre Guide
Photo: Seth Freeman
On "THE SEEDBED" at New Jersey Rep
"Ms. Wake is outstanding. Maggie has something to hide, and whatever it may be is a constant just below her surface. Being able to read her expressive face is an advantage of an intimage auditorium. Maggie is toting a ton of baggage, but Wake keeps her free from histrionics or artifice."
-Phillip Dorian, Scene on Stage
"No less impressive is Cathryn Wake's Maggie, who brings a youthful energy and a hint of rebellious spirit to the script."
-Michael T. Mooney, New Jersey Footlights
"And Cathryn Wake plays their eighteen-year-old daughter Maggie, whose confusion and resentment are tangible throughout the course of the performance."
-Tyler Plosia, Stage Buddy
Photo: SuzAnne Barabas
get in touch
PERSONAL INQUIRIES:
PROFESSIONAL INQUIRIES:
Wolf Talent Group
165 W 46th St
New York, NY 10038