Following in her brother’s footsteps, Kathleen McGill started her career in theater as an accountant, both on and off-Broadway, followed by work at a commercial film company, eventually answering an ad in the New York Times and securing work on her first feature film as an accountant on Saturday Night Fever. As a production controller she worked with noted directors Sidney Lumet (Garbo Talks and The Verdict); Martin Scorsese (The King of Comedy); and Milos Forman (Hair). Learning from the unit production managers and producers on these sets, it was her mentor UPM Judith Stevens who offered her a UPM position on the TV series Central Park West.
Since Central Park West, McGill has primarily worked with director Ron Howard on A Beautiful Mind (2001), The Missing (2003), Cinderella Man (2005), The Da Vinci Code (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), Angels & Demons (2009) and The Dilemma (2011). She has also worked on three X-Men features X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men Apocalypse (2016) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).
McGill has served three terms as a member of the Negotiating Committee, nine terms on the National Board, as well as 11 terms on the Eastern AD/UPM Council. Additionally, she has been a member of the PAC Leadership committee since 2006. For her extensive Guild involvement and career achievements, McGill was awarded the Frank Capra Achievement Award in 2019. She has been a member of the Guild since 1995.