Katherine Emily Hewlett (born December 17, 1976) is a Canadian actress, playwright and songwriter. She has written two plays: Humans Anonymous (2006) and the stage musical The Swearing Jar (2008), for which she wrote both the book and songs. The Swearing Jar was turned into a 2022 film musical of the same name, for which Hewlett won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Song for the song "The Swearing Song".
Contents
Biography
Hewlett was born in 1976 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Hewlett has worked in television, film and theatre. Her brother is actor David Hewlett, who portrayed Rodney McKay in Stargate Atlantis. She guest-starred as McKay's sister, Jeannie Miller, in four episodes on the series. She also co-starred with him, again as his sister, in the film A Dog's Breakfast (2006), which he wrote and directed.
Hewlett wrote the play Humans Anonymous, which premiered in 2006 at the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it won 'Best of Fringe' and 'Best Ensemble'. She also starred in the play, alongside Philip Graeme. The play was then produced off-Broadway in 2007, with Hewlett and Graeme reprising their roles.
She wrote both the book and the music for the musical The Swearing Jar, which premiered in 2008 at the Toronto Fringe Festival. It was awarded 'Best of Fringe' and 'Best Ensemble' at the 2008 Toronto Fringe Festival, then 'Outstanding New Play' at the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival. The play was published in print in 2013, and was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama that year.
In 2012, Hewlett was cast in the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation as Margaret Matlin, a role she played until 2014. In 2013, she starred in Jeremy Lalonde's low-budget comedy feature film Sex After Kids.
From 2015 to 2016, Hewlett appeared in the comedy television series The Stanley Dynamic as Lisa Stanley, the mother of the Stanley family. In the episode 'The Stanley Astronaut', she once again worked alongside her brother David.
Hewlett guest-starred in the 2016 Starz series The Girlfriend Experience, based on Steven Soderbergh's film of the same name.
Hewlett played the role of Mayor Flaherty in the TV show Holly Hobbie in 2018.
Her musical The Swearing Jar was adapted as a musical film, The Swearing Jar, in 2022. Hewlett won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Song at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023 for "The Swearing Song", a song from The Swearing Jar.