Katie Malia (birth name Kathryn Malia Knoernschild) was born in Southern California to parents of Japanese and German descent. 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 for dance 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 has appeared in over 100 national commercials and worked with acclaimed directors such as Mike Mills, Marc Forster, Todd Haynes, Rupert Sanders, Fredrik Bond, and Jon Watts as well as appeared 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, Michelle Johnston, Jeri Slaughter, Rich & Tone Talauega, Ryan Heffington, Marty Kudelka, Laurie-Ann Gibson, Tracy Phillips, Dave Scott, Lindsey Blaufarb, Craig Hollamon, and more. 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 and perform at the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings and was a performer and writer for the 2016 CBS Diversity Comedy Showcase.
