Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired actress. She is best known for her performance in the 1958 film Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and has since become an accomplished artist of oil paintings. She lives with her veterinarian husband on a ranch in Eagle Point, Oregon, where they raise livestock.

Kim Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, Illinois, to Joseph Novak and Blanche Marie Novak (nee Král). Her parents were second-generation Czech immigrants. Her father was a railroad clerk and former teacher and her mother was also a former teacher.

While attending David Glasgow Farragut High School, she won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. After leaving school, she began a career modeling teen fashions for a local department store. She later received a scholarship at a modeling academy and continued to model part-time. She worked as an elevator operator, a sales clerk and a dental assistant.