Katie Featherston, the star of the new horror movie Paranormal Activity 4, directed by Oren Peli, appears soft spoken and innocent in real life. But she has been scaring audiences on the silver screen for the better part of the last four years, and this latest installment in the Paranormal Activity franchise is no exception. “Without giving anything away, there’s a scene where I do some running and the end part of that scene was the trickiest to film,” Featherston told Uinterview exclusively. “It was a lot of fun, but there was a lot of sort of breakable things involved and there was some bruised hands afterwards, but well worth it because I think it’s a pretty effective scare for the audience.”

The oldest of three siblings, Featherston was raised in Arlington, Tex., and attended Southern Methodist University. She graduated SMU in 2005 with a BFA in acting and moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter. A few years later she landed the lead role of “Katie” in Paranormal Activity. Made for just $15,000, Paranormal Activity went on to gross over $190 million worldwide and catapulted Featherston from a relative unknown to a popular face. The sequels — Paranormal Activity 2, Paranormal Activity 3, and the newly-released Paranormal Activity 4 — have all been incredibly successful at the box office, making this Katie-playing-Katie gig a solid and steady role for the young actress.

As for whether she will reprise her role in the series’ fifth green-lit movie, Featherston noted that she would like to, but has not been told by the studio whether there are plans for her in a future film. “But we’ll kind of have to wait and see what they decide to do with it,” she told Uinterview. “I look forward to finding out.”

Leave a comment

Read more about:
User RyanRuddock
Q: If you could have a little chat face to face with Toby, what would you talk about? - RyanRuddock
User jeremynakasone
Q: How did you first get interested in the first Paranormal Activity film? — Jeremy, Portland, Oregon - jeremynakasone

It was my first year out in L.A. and I saw the audition on this thing called “L.A. Casting,” which is what people use when they don’t have any representation, when they’re just starting out. And I went to this tiny theater in North Hollywood and auditioned, and then had a call-back where I met Micah [Sloat], who was my co-star in the first, and got the job. And the auditions were all improvised, there was nothing scripted. It was so much fun that I knew it would be a joyful process if I booked the job, and thankfully I did.

User jeremynakasone
Q: I know that there are already plans to do 'Paranormal Activity 5,' and I want to know, do you plan to reprise your role as Katie in that film? - jeremynakasone

You know, I haven’t personally received any phone calls about 'PA 5,' but I have read on the Internet that it has been greenlit, so I’m going to say a solid “maybe” for that. And whether or not I’ll be in it? If there’s a realistic reason for me to be in it and if my story is continued, if my story progresses, then I would love to be a part of it. But we’ll kind of have to wait and see what they decide to do with it. I look forward to finding out.

User Uinterview User
Q: What was your most challenging scene in this film? - Uinterview User

Without giving anything away, there'€™s a scene where I do some running and the end part of that scene was the trickiest to film. It was a lot of fun, but there were a lot of, sort of, breakable things involved and there were some bruised hands afterwards, but well worth it because I think it'€™s a pretty effective scare for the audience.

User Uinterview User
Q: After acting in so many scary movies, what scares you? - Uinterview User

As for what scares me, I think being alone and being in the dark is scary. I think that feels really vulnerable and really frightening to me. So any combination of that is not good for the scare level.