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Kate Shindle (born January 31, 1977 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and AIDS activist. She came to fame as Miss America 1998, where she represented the state of Illinois as Miss Illinois 1997. She was attending Northwestern University at the time, though she was raised in Moorestown in southern New Jersey and graduated from the Bishop Eustace Preparatory School.[1] According to the biography on her myspace page, she was not (as has been rumored) cut from her high school musical as a freshman. In reality, she both appeared as Fruma-Sarah and played first violin in the musical`s orchestra in that production of "Fiddler on the Roof." She graduated from Northwestern University in 1999 with a bachelor`s degree in theatre.

In 2007, she became an original principal cast member of the Broadway musical, Legally Blonde, based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film.
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Shindle`s father served on the national pageant`s board of directors when she won. He was on a leave of absence during the time of the pageant. The judges, none of whom had ever met Shindle`s father, stood firm on their decision.

Like previous Miss America Leanza Cornett, Shindle focused on official lecture appearances for HIV/AIDS awareness and education and has raised tens of millions of dollars for others. Shindle participated in and chaired a session at a conference at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Upon completion of her year as Miss America, Shindle returned to Northwestern to complete her degree in Theatre/Music Theatre. She has also done graduate level work at NYU and UCLA.

Kate considers herself a conservative Catholic who is pro-life and pro-gay marriage. She spoke at a rally for gay marriage on 15 Nov 2008 in New York, urging everyone to stand up for equality and marriage rights.

In 1999, Shindle`s first CD, Christmases to Come was released on SSP Records. The CD featured the Chicago jazz ensemble Skip Sams` Society Sound, and was used to promote AIDS awareness and raised money for the National AIDS Fund. In 2003, she followed up with her first proper solo CD, Till Today, which was produced by Skip Sams and released on Sams` own label.

In 2005, Shindle recorded Frank Wildhorn`s "Dracula", followed by "Jekyll & Hyde - Resurrection" in 2006, both on Wildhorn`s label GlobalVision Records