Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress and director.

After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery (1990), for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe. She followed this with major roles in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Dolores Claiborne (1995), before playing a featured role as Margaret "Molly" Brown in Titanic (1997). During this time she began her directing career, primarily in television.