Narrating the adventures of the legendary Nordic hero Ragnar Lodbrokaccording to legends handed down from generation to generation, vikings became one of the most transcendent series that had Netflix. With the sixth and final season released in December 2020, the actor Travis Fimmel He put himself in the shoes of the main character. But he was not the only one who stood out in the cast: Katherine Winnick managed to gain a place of importance.
Katheryn played the Viking shieldmaiden Lagherta, who stood out for his courage, his skills and war tactics. At the end of the series, the actress even looked like an old woman, with a whole set of makeup at her disposal, with her character already advanced in years. Yes vikings was critically acclaimed, what she achieved was also up to the task.
Winnick’s roots are not related to any Nordic country but to Ukraine, the country from which his parents and siblings are from. His mother was pregnant with Katheryn when the family decided to move to Canada, looking for a more promising future: the girl would be born on December 17, 1977 in tinseltown, Toronto.
In her ancestors there is no trace linked to the performing arts either, but that was not an impediment for Katheryn to end up getting involved in acting. At the same time, she also studied languages: she is fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, English, Italian and French. Even so as not to lose her roots -which she praises today in the midst of the invasion of Russia-, she also went to a Ukrainian school, which she attended on Saturdays. Not long ago, she remarked that her parents made sure that she absorbed everything related to her roots. “I pray for Ukraine… I pray for my family and friends. I pray for the soldiers and civilians on the ground right now. And I pray for your safety. Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine),” she wrote in a post.
Not long ago, in an interview with Rose & Ivy, said that since she was a child she already showed intentions of being an actress, and that is why she insisted that they take her to study dramatic art. Every time her aunts went to her house, she always prepared a number for them with the sole purpose of applauding her later. The same thing happened with school events, which she always signed up to be a part of. “I definitely showed a creative side as a child,” she recounted.
Of course, the lights of Hollywood did not even appear in the firmament of his dreams. In her town, nobody found conditions for her to be an actress. Even believing that she was doing him a favor instead of noticing the cruelty of her comments, her teachers recommended that she pursue another career. But she Katheryn was not about to give up. She kept trying despite the fact that she was not very clear about where to go next. She was also stunned, not understanding which way to go, but with a fixed idea: “I always knew I wanted this for my life, but at first I didn’t know how to do it, since I wasn’t born into this. But I stood firm and pushed myself to grow.”
At the age of seven, she began to study martial arts, encouraged by her parents, who wanted her to have weapons to defend herself. At 13 she was already a third dan black belt in taekwondo. In karate, she did the same: she reached a second dan black belt. She is an expert in the matter and she makes it available in the films in which she usually plays the heroine: in the cinema, a large part of her projects were linked to the action genre.
“At the age of 16 I opened my own taekwondo school. I started teaching martial arts in after school programs and over time more and more people asked me to teach them. The school was in Toronto, and thanks to word of mouth it grew a lot. I love punching and kicking and kicking someone. I grew up with a very physical training, ”she told a few years ago to People.
Perhaps that interest encouraged her to take a course and become a professional bodyguard: she has the license to take that job if she ever wanted to. And somehow, that was the first rung on the ladder to fame: in her teens she was hired by various action movie productions to train actors. She taught them moves to attack and defend. Until one day, she was asked to go to the other side of the cameras. And she didn’t hesitate. “I accepted because I saw that the actors had the best job in the world”, she was honest.
In what has to do with television projects, the most important came in 2005 when she was called to put herself in the shoes of Ivan Trumpthe first wife of donald trump. It was a movie of abc tv call Trump Unauthorizedand reached a great repercussion in the United States.
