Katherine Wilson was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon to school teachers who lived and taught on the Chiloquin Indian Reservation. Her father was childhood friends with Director James Ivory. She attended the University of Oregon as an English Major, and soon became an actress for the burgeoning 16mm Poetic Cinema filmmakers that included members of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. Concurrently, she was discovered by Director Mark Rydell for his film Permission d'aimer (1973). Mark brought her to Hollywood and encouraged her to attend film school at the University of California. However, she wanted to continue as a filmmaker in Oregon, and has worked ever since to create a film industry in the Northwest tradition. It was in lobbying the Governor's office for the indigenous filmmaker that Katherine was chosen as the Governor's liaison to the set of Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975) wherein she became fast friends with Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas. She became visible as an advocate for films in Oregon, helping Producers and Writers with L.A. contacts and creating networking organizations on a grass-roots level, as well as providing a myriad of services for Hollywood Productions. Her first major film as location scout and location casting director was for the notorious American College (1978). She provided these services for the next 20 years on many films, including Stand by me - Compte sur moi (1986) but with her literary background she felt she could better serve her community by developing and creating screenplays that were made to film in the Northwest. She has worked with thirty-some writers doing this, and has recently completed five of her own, to great accolades for her work from Hollywood Writers, Directors, Producers, and Actors, some of them Academy Award level professionals. In 2007 she was honored for her career in Film with a week-end long party at the Pendleton Round-Up, with Filmmakers flying in from all over the country. Since then, she has mentored young filmmakers and wrote and produced Animal House of Blues: How a Community Helped Create a Hollywood Blockbuster or Two (2012)_ with 10 graduating students from the University of Oregon's Cinematic Studies department. They won "Best Documentary by a Northwest Filmmaker" at the Eugene International Film Festival and were awarded an International Distribution Deal.
