Biography
Kate Burton is a Swiss-born Welsh-American stage and screen actress. She is best known for her TV roles as Vice President Sally Langston on ABC's Scandal, Vera Quinn on the Audience Network's series Full Circle, and Dr. Ellis Grey on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. She holds an BA in Russian Studies and European History from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, New Haven, Connecticut.
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Surrender
2025
as Barbara
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger...

Oscar Wilde About America
2025
This big-hearted romp from New York City to Hollywood, CA leads Oscar to the queer joy, love, and liberation that eluded him 141 years ago, with the a...

guts
2024
as Gabby
Desperate for help, a woman in recovery asks an unlikely stranger on a dinner date.

Our Son
2023
as Maggie "Miggie"
When his husband Gabriel files for divorce, Nicky fights for custody of their 8-year-old son Owen, as he struggles to come to terms with what it means...

Dumb Money
2023
as Elaine Gill
Vlogger Keith Gill sinks his life savings into GameStop stock and posts about it. When social media starts blowing up, so do his life and the lives of...

Heaven, I Suppose
2023
as Cheryl
A seasoned funeral director is faced with his own mortality when he must prepare a funeral for a man who looks exactly like him.

The Anne Frank Gift Shop
2023
as Ilse
Is there a wrong way to talk about the Holocaust? That's the question at the heart of THE ANNE FRANK GIFT SHOP, a dark comedy about anti-Semitism that...

Breaking
2022
as Tami Stackhouse
Desperate for money and running out of options, Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley holds several people hostage inside a bank, setting the stage for a ...
Sandra Day O'Connor: The First
2021
as Narrator (voice)
When Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor as the Supreme Court’s first female justice in 1981, the announcement dominated the news. Time Magazi...

The Codebreaker
2021
as Narrator (voice)
Discover the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst who helped bring down gangsters and break up a Nazi spy ri...

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
2019
as Ellen Idelson
When architect-turned-recluse Bernadette Fox goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica, her 15-year-old daughter Bee goes on a quest with Bern...

At First Light
2018
as Kate
High school senior Alex has an encounter with mysterious lights that appear over her small town. She soon develops dangerous, supernatural abilities, ...

Noël Coward's Present Laughter
2017
as Liz Essendine
A self-obsessed actor in the midst of a mid-life crisis juggles a fawning ingenue, a crazed playwright, his ex-wife, and the personal lives of his fri...

Martyrs
2015
as Eleanor
A woman and her childhood friend seek out revenge on those who victimized and abused them.

Identity Theft
2015
as Anna
A story about separation.

Bleeding Heart
2015
as Martha
Reserved yoga instructor May's peaceful, clean-living life is thrown out of balance by the arrival of her long-lost sister Shiva, a street-smart yet n...

Amok
2015
as Dr. Wilson
A horrible work accident triggers a terrifying event from Adam's childhood. Newly settled in NYC with his wife and newborn son, he's haunted by the pa...

Don't Look Back
2014
as Dr. Jeanette Barnes
A troubled young woman inherits a cabin filled with memories, but revealed secrets of the past ruin her hopes of a fresh start.

Barefoot
2014
as Mrs. Wheeler
The "black sheep" son of a wealthy family meets a young psychiatric patient who's been raised in isolation her entire life. He takes the naive young w...

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel: Live from Lincoln Center
2013
as Mrs. Mullin
Transferring the setting of a brooding Hungarian play, Carousel, to a remote fishing village, shaping their vision around themes of brutality, poverty...

Mariachi Gringo
2012
as Anne
A stifled, small-town man stuck in a dead end life, runs away to Mexico to be a mariachi singer. MARIACHI GRINGO is a musical tour-de-force exploring ...

Liberal Arts
2012
as Susan
Newly single, 35, and uninspired by his job, Jesse Fisher worries that his best days are behind him. But no matter how much he buries his head in a bo...

2 Days in New York
2012
as Bella
Marion and Mingus both come from failed relationships but, by bringing their children together, they've managed to form a small yet happy family. Tens...

Caris' Peace
2011
as Self
Documentary film about actress Caris Corfman and her theatrical one woman show, Caris' Peace.

Puncture
2011
as Senator O'Reilly
A lawyer who is a drug addict fights a medical-supplies corporation in court while battling his personal demons.

127 Hours
2010
as Aron's Mom
The true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an i...

Remember Me
2010
as Janine
Still reeling from a heartbreaking family event and his parents' subsequent divorce, Tyler Hawkins discovers a fresh lease on life when he meets Ally ...

Consent
2010
as Susan
A wealthy Manhattan family's inability to cope with the suicide of their eldest daughter sends them into a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and sexua...

Washingtonienne
2009
as Joy
A comedy that revolves around the professional and personal lives of three smart, sophisticated twenty-something girls working on Capitol Hill.

Spooner
2009
as Alice Spooner
Facing eviction from his parent's home on his 30th birthday, a socially awkward guy meets the girl of his dreams and creates his own rules for growing...

What Just Happened
2008
as Doctor Randall
During the course of an ordinary week in Hollywood, movie producer Ben must navigate his way through shark-infested waters as he struggles to complete...

Max Payne
2008
as Nicole Horne
A DEA agent whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy, and an assassin out to avenge her sister's death, join forces to solve a series of murders...

Hidden Treasure of the Mississippi
2008
as Aunt Birdy
Will and Clayton witness a murder, but out of fear decide not to tell anyone. They and their friend Betsy, whose father has been wrongfully accused of...

Quid Pro Quo
2008
as Merilee
A semi-paralyzed radio reporter is sent out to investigate a story that leads him into an odd subculture and on a journey of disturbing self-realizati...

Sherrybaby
2006
as Marcia Swanson
After serving time in prison, former drug addict Sherry Swanson returns home to reclaim her young daughter from family members who have been raising t...

Stay
2005
as Mrs. Letham
Psychiatrist Sam Foster has a new patient, Henry Letham, who claims to be suicidal. In trying to diagnose him, Sam visits Henry's prior therapist and ...

Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea
2005
as Narrator (voice)
More than 40 years after his death, Hemingway is one of the most widely read, and widely written about, American authors. His distinct style and profo...

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer
2003
as Connie Posey
Set at the turn of the century, this is the tale of Ellen Rimbauer who just received this mysterious mansion as a wedding gift from her new husband...

Three Sisters
2003
as Olga
Nearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exile. Olga, a schoolmistress, attempts to support her...

Obsessed
2002
as Sara Miller
A woman claims she had an affair with a married neurosurgeon and stands trial for allegedly harassing him.

Swimfan
2002
as Carla Cronin
Ben Cronin has it all: the admiration of his many friends, a terrific girlfriend, and he's on the fast-track to an athletic scholarship. Ben's rock-so...

Unfaithful
2002
as Tracy
Connie is a wife and mother whose 11-year marriage to Edward has lost its sexual spark. When Connie literally runs into handsome book collector Paul, ...

The Opportunists
2000
as Rest Home Sister
Vic is a struggling auto mechanic with a safe-cracking past and a lot of debt. His girlfriend runs a bar and offers to loan him the money she's saved ...

Ellen Foster
1998
as Abigail Montford
After her mother's death, a young girl is separated from her abusive father and is sent between her various friends and relatives, always longing to f...

Celebrity
1998
as Robin's Friend Cheryl
The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment j...

The Ice Storm
1997
as Dorothy Franklin
In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hood family is skidding out of control. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.

Mistrial
1996
as Katherine Donohue
When a cop-killer goes free, a detective's search for personal justice veers dangerously out of control. Declaring a mistrial, he takes the accused, t...

Looking for Richard
1996
as Self
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Ric...

The First Wives Club
1996
as Woman in Bed
After years of helping their hubbies climb the ladder of success, three mid-life Manhattanites have been dumped for a newer, curvier model. But the tr...

August
1996
as Helen Blathwaite
Set in 1890s North Wales over a long, hot August weekend, the Victorian calm of a household is suddenly upset with the arrival of a London couple who ...
Notes For My Daughter
1995
as Brenda Gardner
A teen girl struggles to deal with her mother's breast cancer.

Love Matters
1993
as Deborah
Married couple Tom and Julie begin to question the stability of their relationship when an old friend comes to visit... with his latest mistress in to...

Life with Mikey
1993
as Mrs. Burns
Michael Chapman, a former child TV star, runs a struggling talent agency specilizing in child acts. When a young girl off the street puts on a real pe...
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
1989
as Self
A study of the Group Theatre, a company that changed the face of American drama. The Group was founded in 1931 by Cheryl Crawford, Harold Clurman and ...

In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton
1988
as Self
Tony Palmer's award-winning feature-length documentary profile of Richard Burton.

Uncle Tom's Cabin
1987
as Ophelia
The life of an aging black slave, Tom, and the people he interacts with.

Big Trouble in Little China
1986
as Margo
Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the so...

Alice in Wonderland
1983
as Alice
From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.

Anne of the Thousand Days
1969
as Serving Maid (uncredited)
Henry VIII of England discards his wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
Violent Ends
N/A
Lucas Frost, an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence, tries to make his own life with his fiancée, Emma. He is sudden...

Death on the Brandywine
N/A
as Ann Riley
An aging politician is found dead at his home. The police declare it suicide, but amateur sleuth Professor Millie Park is not convinced. In her invest...