Spartan Profiles: Katie Von Till
RISING THESPIAN
As a senior at MSU, she won the Dept. of Theatre’s Outstanding Senior Award as well as the prestigious Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. So it was not surprising when this past year Katie Von Till, ’97, a rising stage actress, landed the plum role of Ellen in Miss Saigon in a San Jose, CA, co-production by Paper Mill Playhouse. Von Till also performed as Ariel in Tokyo Disneyland’s Feel The Magic and acted in two student films. She also made her television debut in For The People with Lea Thompson and Debbi Morgan.
“A wonderful experience,” says Katie. “I had my own dressing room with a bathroom, a couch and a TV. The shoot was fully catered with fabulous food.” Best of all, she learned the meaning of “residuals.”
Pursuing a career in acting is a fulltime job, she notes. “Every day is spent figuring out from where my next paycheck will come. In addition, she’s taking acting and dance classes, and doing voice training with John DeLuise (Dom’s nephew). “My goal is to land a national tour within two years,” she says. She would also like to break into television and film. “If I could write the script for my future, I would be starring in my own sitcom while doing Broadway musicals during my summer hiatus.”
A native of San Jose, CA, Katie followed both her attorney father Steve and teacher mother Beth, and several other relatives, to MSU. “My parents are true Spartan fanatics,” she notes. “On Christmas day, instead of getting gifts from Santa we’d get gifts from Sparty. MSU was my only choice!”
She credits professors Harlan Jennings in music and Dixie Durr, Joyce Ramsay and Frank Rutledge in theatre with helping inspire her career. “Frank Rutledge urged me to get involved,” she recalls. “I took his advice.” Indeed, she performed in four mainstage shows, directed an award-winning play during at the Young Playwrights Festival at Wharton Center, and held office in Orchesis, the student-run dance organization.
