Katherine Heigl

Katherine Marie Heigl  born November 24, 1978 is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy and her starring role in the movies Knocked Up, 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth.

Heigl started her career as a child model with Wilhelmina Models before she turned her attention to acting. She made her debut in the coming-of-age film, That Night. Heigl appeared in the television series Roswell and movies including My Father the Hero before landing her break out role in Grey's Anatomy. Over the years, Heigl has established herself as a sex symbol and cover model appearing on numerous publications including Maxim, Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan.

Heigl has worked with Best Friends Animal Society on several projects including their Pup My Ride program. The program transports small dogs from high-kill animal shelters to other parts of the US where there is a greater demand for such dogs. Her involvement in this led her to give Best Friends a grant which would fund a year of the program.   

Heigl and her mother, Nancy, then started Heigl's Hounds of Hope which operates as part of the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation. The Foundation was created in honor of Katherine's brother, who was killed in a car accident in 1986 at the age of fifteen. Heigl's Hounds of Hope rescues larger dogs with behavior problems from shelters with a high kill rate and rehabilitates them through training and other adjustments to make them suitable for re-homing. As of 2009, Heigl has six dogs of her own