Kate Linder
as Esther Valentine
Kate Linder joined the cast of Y&R in April 1982 as Esther Valentine, confidante and housekeeper to Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper).
A native of Pasadena, California, Linder attended San Francisco State University and graduated with a BA in theatre arts. Linder has appeared in numerous theatrical productions in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
She was named celebrity spokesperson for The ALS Association in 2005 and recently established Kate's Club to get fans and other actors involved in the fight against ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, following her brother-in-law's ALS diagnosis. Linder is also active with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, among other charities, and has visited troops on USO tours to Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Korea in addition to military bases in the United States. Linder is a founding member of TV Cares, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences AIDS awareness and fundraising arm. She was also the only daytime actress to be featured in Portraits of Life, with Love, a coffee-table book published to raise funds for various AIDS organizations.
In addition to her role on the daytime drama, Linder also works as a United Airlines flight attendant, flying mostly on weekends.
She is married to Ronald Linder, a health care administrator and a leading expert and author on drug abuse. The couple, married on Valentine's Day in 1976, live in Los Angeles.