All About Anne Hathaway's Parents, Kate and Gerald Hathaway

Anne Hathaway’s parents, Kate and Gerald Hathaway, have always wanted what’s best for her

The world may know Anne Hathaway as a talented award-winning actress, but to her parents, Kate McCauley Hathaway and Gerald “Jerry” Hathaway, Anne will first and foremost be their one and only daughter.

Despite having roots in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Kate and Gerald raised Anne and her older brother, Michael, and younger brother, Thomas, in Brooklyn, New York, and later in Millburn, New Jersey. As the Hathaway children grew up, Gerald worked as an attorney at several law firms in the tri-state area. Meanwhile, Kate continued to build a career as a professional actor and theatrical producer.

Kate and Gerald have both been spotted on the red carpet supporting their daughter over the years, while Anne has credited her mother for nurturing her love of acting. Notably, she praised Kate for inspiring her portrayal of Fantine in the 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables, a performance that earned Anne the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Decades prior, Kate played the understudy for the same part in the first U.S. traveling tour of the musical.

“We decided a long time ago that she was my mom [and not a manager-type], but on this one, I did go to her,” the actress told The Hollywood Reporter. “We just talked about the character. She told me a lot about her experience playing Fantine, which gave me even more confidence that it was in my blood, in my DNA, it was a family legacy. I think it allowed me to connect on a deeper level to the character, knowing how much it meant to her.”

While Anne continues to enjoy success in Hollywood, including starring in the 2024 romantic comedy The Idea of You, her parents didn’t always want their daughter to be solely focused on acting.

Here’s everything to know about Anne Hathaway’s parents — Kate and Gerald Hathaway — and their relationship with the actress.

Kate and Gerald went to school in Philadelphia

Kate and Gerald crossed paths in the 1970s at La Salle University, a private Catholic university in Philadelphia.

While there, Gerald pursued a bachelor of arts in English, with concentrations in speech and drama, before landing at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, according to his LinkedIn page. Kate received her bachelor’s degree in English literature and theater, per her LinkedIn, and went on to work in the entertainment industry.

Kate and Gerald got married on Dec. 27, 1980, and they welcomed Anne on Nov. 12, 1982.

They still have active careers

Anne's parents continue to work in their respective fields in New York City.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Gerald is currently a partner at Fox Rothschild law firm. He has won several awards over the course of his career and, according to his bio on the Fox Rothschild website, he works with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Counsel’s Council in New York City and provides pro bono services for The Ali Forney Center and TakeRoot Justice. He is also a member of the advisory board at the NYU Center for Labor and Employment Law.

Kate now maintains her own theatrical production company, Kate Hathaway Productions, LLC. In 2013, she made her Broadway debut as a coproducer of the play Ann, a show about Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas.

Between 2010 and 2019, Kate performed in various productions at Cape May Stage in New Jersey, including I Hate Hamlet, Steel Magnolias, Other Desert Cities, and Sylvia.

They embraced Anne’s love for theater from the beginning

Seeing Kate perform made Anne and her two brothers appreciate plays and musicals at an early age.

“I saw my mother die a lot on stage actually. As Fantine in Les Mis, or in Evita,” Anne told BritishGQ in 2016. “I remember we did a reading together when she was playing a breast cancer victim and I was like, 'God, next time choose a comedy!' ”

But it wasn’t just her mom, as she explained both her parents have always been strong supporters of the arts.

“We were focused on theater. ... Creativity was encouraged in our family household, embraced even," TheDevil Wears Prada actress recalled to the outlet. "I would walk around singing all day, doing scenes, pretending all day long. My two brothers loved that. My parents never said, 'Pipe down!' or, 'Quit that racket!' "

Kate and Gerald were protective early on in Anne’s career

Kate and Gerald supported Anne’s acting at a young age, signing her up for classes at Millburn’s Paper Mill Playhouse — but they did draw a line to protect her. When Anne begged her mom to play the little girl in her mom’s road tour of Les Mis, her parents agreed it wasn’t the best idea.

“My husband and I had seen perfectly nice children become little monsters with all that attention,” Kate told The New York Post. “We said, ‘Absolutely no, darling. Your job right now is to be a child.’ ”

As she grew older, Kate and Gerald stayed involved in Anne’s career, helping her choose an agent and manager. They knew they had a star on their hands and wanted to set her up for success.

“I remember saying to Annie, ‘You’re entering a world where all you’re going to hear is yes. We’re the ones who are going to say no when you need to hear it,’ And I think that really helped keep her grounded,” she added to the outlet.

Anne has also recalled times early in her career when her mother stepped in, like when she got her big break on the TV series Get Real.

"I never had particularly romantic feelings about acting," Anne told British GQ. "My mother helped with that. I saw it as a job. An option."

They appeared in ThePrincess Diaries movies

Though Caroline Goodall portrays Helen Thermopolis, the mother of Anne’s character, Mia, in The Princess Diaries, Anne’s real mom has a brief cameo in the second installment of the popular Disney film. In The Princess Diaries: Royal Engagement, Kate plays a choir director who says the line: “She’s back!”

“I still get residuals,” Kate told The New York Post in 2019. “They’re down to around $17 at this point, but I don’t care. You can get a nice New York lunch for that!”

Gerald also earned a small non-speaking part in The Princess Diaries cast as Mia’s deceased father, Prince Philippe Renaldi, thanks to director Garry Marshall.

“Such a lovely, funny man, and he had this very thick, Bronx accent,” Kate recalled to the outlet of Marshall. “He asked Annie, ‘Your fatha, is he good-lookin’?’ ”

Anne deeply admires them

Anne readily praises both Kate and Gerald on social media while revealing details about her childhood in the process. On Mother’s Day in 2018, Anne shared a throwback photo of her mom starring as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and shared support for her continuing stage career.

“She was four months pregnant with my older brother when she played this part and did cartwheels on stage every dang night- twice on matinee days,” she captioned the Facebook picture. “She pursued her dreams of being an actress while raising three children before that was cool and before you got credit for it — and she hasn’t stopped.”

Similarly, Anne gave her dad a heartfelt shout-out on social media for Father’s Day of the same year. Alongside an Instagram photo of Gerald and herself, she detailed the values her father instilled in her from childhood.

“When my brothers and I were growing up, our Dad commuted an hour and half to work every day and still coached our soccer teams and helped out the stage crew on every one of my shows (he put himself through college and law school as a stage hand — long live Buster),” Anne wrote, in part.

She continued, “He has the hugest Leo heart and is thrillingly smart — also, he is a bad-ass who doesn’t take $&@! from anyone. He taught me how to use my brain, to try and make the world a better place, and told me that I should never lie so that way I would never need to remember anything (it’s true). Simply put, he is my hero.”

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