Cathy began her screen appearance in her debut comedy Taking Off, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 44th Cannes International Film Festival. Cathy then switched to stage acting and succeeded for the first time in 1976 for playing a Texas beauty in the stage play Vanities. Next, she starred in stage plays and so on.
Cathy successfully played a repressed girl who tried to commit suicide in the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play "Good Night, Mother," for which she received many honors, including the Tony Award for Best Actress.
Just when Cathy had a great harvest in stage plays, she also had a lot of development in television and other aspects. In 1977, she made her television debut, The Ship of Love, and in 1987-88 she was released by playwright Terrence M. Thompson. E. McNally's tailor-made stage play "Modern Love Story" plays Frankie, a waitress who is lost in search of love, and her outstanding performance won her the Obi Award for Drama.
After entering the 90s, Cathy made great progress in film, successively starring in "Man Stop", "Supreme Detective", "Crisis Ten Days", "Green Forest Heroes", "Titanic", "Primary Color" and "Tea Boy", etc., and won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for "Ten Days of Danger", and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for "Primary Color".
Cathy not only has a deep knowledge of performing arts, but she is also trying to be a director. In 1993, she directed the police-themed television series Spring of Reason law and NYPD Blue for the first time, and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Director for Motion Picture television for her 1999 biopic Darsh and Lily.
In the 21st century, Cathy continued her film acting career, starring in the satirical comedy "Treasure Hunt", the Western action film "Lawless", "Lost My Wife", the suspense film "Dragonfly", the elderly comedy "About Schmidt" and "Unconditional Love", among which "About Schmidt" received nominations for the 2003 Golden Globe Award and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.