Katie Malia (birth name Kathryn Malia Knoernschild) was born in Southern California to entrepreneurial parents of Japanese and German descent. Her parents were founding partners of apparel company Billabong U.S. as well as sportswear company Hurley International which later sold to Nike, Inc in 2002. Though surrounded by the surf and sports industry, Katie's interest and appreciation for the arts began at a very young age; her mother, a former dancer, exposed Katie to the ballet, opera, symphony and... more
Katie Malia (birth name Kathryn Malia Knoernschild) was born in Southern California to entrepreneurial parents of Japanese and German descent. Her parents were founding partners of apparel company Billabong U.S. as well as sportswear company Hurley International which later sold to Nike, Inc in 2002. Though surrounded by the surf and sports industry, Katie's interest and appreciation for the arts began at a very young age; her mother, a former dancer, exposed Katie to the ballet, opera, symphony and theatre and enrolled her in performing arts classes before formal education began.During her formative years, Katie was an avid classical pianist and ballet dancer studying with The Boston Ballet and Joffrey Ballet, and her love of the arts and academics soon brought her to New York where she was accepted into the Juilliard School but ultimately decided to double major in English Literature and Dance from Columbia University instead.While attending university full-time, Katie's first professional job was dancing on Saturday Night Live. She appeared in over twenty five national commercials as well as modeled in campaigns for Apple, Gap, Puma, Nike, Esprit, Adidas, Yahoo!, Target and Microsoft.As a dancer, she worked with acclaimed choreographers Fatima Robinson, Michael Rooney, Jeri Slaughter, Rich & Tone Talauega, Ryan Heffington, Marty Kudelka, Laurie-Ann Gibson, Tracy Phillips, Dave Scott, and Cati Jean. She also had the privileged opportunity to partner with Marat Dukayev, former principal dancer with The Kirov Ballet when she was only fifteen years old.While continuing a very successful dance and commercial career in both New York and Los Angeles, Katie soon transitioned to theatre, attending a Shakespeare and Contemporary Arts program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, and then shortly after made her stage debut in Our Town with The Actors' Gang Theatre in Los Angeles.She continues to study under Yale and Broadway veteran actress Kate McGregor-Stewart and lives in downtown Los Angeles with her piano, drum-set, many stacks of books, and French bulldog, Steve.
