Katherine LaNasa became a first-time Emmys nominee – and winner – at the age of 58, and now, a year later, has received her second nomination for the role of Nurse Dana Evans in HBO’s smash hit The Pitt. It’s a story not only remarkable for Hollywood but a reminder to women that success does not need to come in your 20s, and life’s trajectory can still be changed even in later decades.
“I would have probably robbed myself of the joy of the experience,” Katherine, now 59, tells HELLO!, speculating about what success as a younger woman may have looked like for her.
“I would have been very worried about how I looked, how my dress looked, my speeches, whereas now I see the journey as the prize.
“For example, with the whole Emmys race last year and all the publicity leading up to it, I wanted to enjoy it. I never thought I would get there, so it’s not about doing it perfectly and winning. It’s about enjoying the whole thing. Just to get that far was such a big deal.”
A whirlwind, high-profile youth saw Katherine meet and fall in love with Dennis Hopper, and a 22-year-old Katherine married Dennis, 52, in 1989. They welcomed a son, Henry, but Katherine and Dennis divorced in 1992.
Twenty years later, in 2012, Katherine married Grant Show, whom she’d appeared alongside in Big Love. The pair lead a grounded and stable life in Los Angeles, keeping their 12-year-old daughter, Eloise, out of the limelight.
“I think that motherhood changes one intrinsically,” says Katherine, admitting that her own experiences of motherhood have naturally impacted the way she approaches her work as Dana.
“I now often think about people as being someone else’s baby, and I’m sure Dana probably does too: ‘This is someone’s loved one, and how can I take care of this very valuable person?'”
© Warrick Page/MAXKatherine was a professional dancer whose career in movies began with Catchfire (1990), starring Dennis and Jodie Foster. She went on to appear in supporting roles across film and television, and had recurring roles in NYPD Blue, Big Love, and Devious Maids.
The actress has spoken publicly about how she almost quit acting after years of auditioning, battles with alcoholism and stress, and a 2023 breast cancer diagnosis, before the role of Dana landed in her lap.
Dana became what Katherine has called the ultimate “love letter and a thank you” to the medical staff who treated her during her cancer battle; in season one, one scene shows Dana slip into a ward and quietly add a blanket around a patient’s feet, a move inspired by her own experiences of nurses.
© Getty Images for FIJI WaterThe 2025 awards season race was “a wonderful experience,” says Katherine, who is now looking at the 2026 race with eyes wide open.
Katherine is nominated once again in the Supporting Actress in a Drama category, and in an incredible feat for one show, is up against three of her colleagues: Taylor Dearden, Sepideh Moafi, and Fiona Dourif.
“If it doesn’t happen to me and it happens to somebody else, I’ll know that somebody else is getting that wonderful experience, and that’s also great,” she says.
In season two, set 10 months after the events of season one, viewers saw Dana struggling with PTSD from the physical assault she was subjected to by a patient while balancing the requirements to mentor and show compassion for a new intake of interns, including trainee nurse Emma Nolan.
© WireImageHaving faced down her own real-life battles, Katherine brings a lived-in understanding to Dana.
“Dana feels like people we know,” says Katherine.
“And to play someone that’s so multidimensional – [the writers] don’t lock her in. Yes, I’m a compassionate, loving mama bear in a way, but also I’m kind of f****d up and angry and broken and real. I got beat up at work, and I’m still dealing with it, and that’s real. I’m not Superwoman. I think people relate to Dana because she feels like a lot of mothers and sisters and friends that we know.”
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