American multidisciplinary artist Cat Ellington (b. Kimberly Monique Hart to parents Linda Hart and entrepreneur Ezell Ellington-Jenkins on November 28, 1970, in Chicago, Illinois, but then nicknamed "Cat" by one of her educators in 1980 before later adopting and adding her father's surname to provide the moniker with a more syllabic flair) is widely known for her extensive work in entertainment and literature, where her creative prolificacy spans music, film, literature research, and book authorship. In her disciplines as a book author, poet, literary critic and literary researcher (beginning at age 8 in 1979 with her review of Eleanor Clymer's "Hamburgers and Ice Cream for Dessert"), and memoirist, Cat Ellington, working through her Quill Pen Ink Publishing entity as an independent scholar, has authored over two dozen books on literary criticism (where she draws upon spiritual perspective, current scholarship, social theory, and historical contexts to expand her viewpoints on works of literature), poetry, and the humanities, including the noted Reviews by Cat Ellington series, the Unique Critique Trilogies, The Complete Works, The Five-Star Review, Strike a Prose, Memoirs in Gogyohka, More Imaginative Than Ordinary Speech, the Cat Ellington Sheet Music Collection, The Arts of Literary Criticism (from The Arts series), and more. Raised outside of her home by librarians, archivists, and educators, Cat Ellington cites among her many influences the 14th Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, and former Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ruth B. Love. As an award-winning songwriter/composer and music producer, since 1981, the year she, as a 10-year-old, wrote her first song titled "The Baby's Song," Cat Ellington, courtesy of The Black Jaguar Music Company, is renowned in the music industry for a song catalog spanning 24 musical genres, including R&B, pop, jazz, classical, folk, country, gospel, and heavy metal. It was from the genres mentioned above that Ellington supplied five original songs for the motion picture soundtrack to the multi-award-winning psychological thriller "Dual Mania," and its corresponding instrumentals EP, including "The Book Of Us," "I'm Still In Love," "Something In Your Eyes," "Gett Out," and "I Do," the latter winning the 2019 Vegas Movie Award for Best Song, as well as an Honorable Mention in recognition of excellence in filmmaking. Ellington includes among her many musical influences several legendary architects of the Global Songbook, namely Quincy Jones, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Eddie Holland, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Bob Seger, and Bruce Hornsby. In her discipline as an executive casting director, a craft in which some of her biggest influences include Marion Dougherty, Robi Reed, Lynn Stalmaster, Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins, and Mike Fenton, Cat Ellington, via The Centaur Casting Agency, has specialized in film casting since 1993, the year the Chicago-based film production company Vital Vision Productions, now Vital Vision Productions, LLC, hired the then 22-year-old Cat to cast the feature film, "Dual Mania," a project written, executive produced, and directed by her husband, Joseph Strickland. Incidentally, the song "Gett Out," the first release from the heavy metal collection of the Cat Ellington song catalog, was co-written by Strickland. Additionally, Cat Ellington's film industry résumé also includes her work as a voice-over actress. Along with her husband, famous filmmaker and screenwriter Joseph Strickland, their three children, Nathaniel, Nairobi, and fellow author Naras Kimono, and a pet Pomeranian named Aspen, Cat Ellington divides her time among Chicago, Maplewood, and her summer residence in Chatham, MA, which she has incorporated into her home life since 2025.