Stana Katic Biography

Stana Katic (Serbian; ?"???? ??"??"?, born April 26, 1978) is a Serbian-Canadian film and television actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Detective Kate Beckett on the popular ABC series Castle.

Early life

Katic was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, to Serbian parents named Petar and Rada, who both emigrated from Croatia. In describing her ethnicity, she has stated her parents are Serbs. Her father is from Vrlika, and her mother is from the surrounding area of Sinj. Katic later moved with her family to Aurora, Illinois. She spent the following years moving back and forth between Canada and the United States. After graduating from West Aurora High School in 1996, she studied at the University of Toronto and then at Chicago's Goodman School of Drama, where she studied acting from 2000 to 2002. She has four brothers and one sister.

Career

Katic played Hana Gitelman in Heroes, Collette Stenger in 24 's season 5, and Jenny in the film Feast of Love starring Morgan Freeman. She also played Morgenstern in Frank Miller's film The Spirit, Corrine Veneau in the Bond movie Quantum of Solace (though she was originally up for the role of Strawberry Fields in the film), and Simone Renoir in the third installment of The Librarian franchise, The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice.

In August 2008, ABC announced acquisition of the television series Castle, starring Katic as Kate Beckett and Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle.

In 2008, Katic established her own production company, Sine Timore Productions, which is Latin for "without fear".

BuddyTV named Stana Katic as #24 on its list of "TV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2009", #39 in 2010, #1 in 2011 and #8 in 2012; #6 on its list of "The 15 Best Drama Lead Actresses of the 2011-2012 TV Season"; named her character's relationship with the title character as #18 (and the Best Flirting Relationship) on its list "Love Is All Around: Best TV Relationships of 2010", #13 (and the Best Delayed Relationship) on its list of "The Best Relationships of 2011", #15 on its list of "The Special Relationships: TV's Top 50 Love Stories of the Past Decade", #1 on its list "Love... Or Not: The Top 12 Will-They-or-Won't-They Couples of 2012" and #2 on its list "Lip Smacking Good: The Best Kisses of 2012"; named Castle as #6 on its list of "The 11 Best Returning TV Shows of 2011", #11 on "The 15 Best Dramas of the 2011-2012 TV Season" and #12 on "The 12 Best Dramas of 2012".

In the summer of 2010 Katic filmed For Lovers Only with the Polish brothers in France and The Double with Richard Gere.

At the third annual Shorty Awards held on March 28, 2011, she won the actress category. In May 2011, she won the Most Glamourous Actress online ballot for the Monte-Carlo Television Festival. She received 17.3% of the 3,641 votes against a field of 15 finalists.

She served as a jury member at the May 29 " June 5, 2011, Film Festival Zlín, where For Lovers Only made its world premiere. She is currently working on another film, Big Sur, in which she plays Lenore Kandel. In conjunction with the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International, there was an official announcement in Entertainment Weekly that she would become the voice for Talia al Ghul in Batman: Arkham City.

On January 28, 2012, she was a presenter at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards ceremony. She was the recipient of the PRISM Award for Performance in a Drama Episode at the 16th Annual PRISM Awards for her portrayal of suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Castle season four episode "Killshot". Katic was nominated for the 39th People's Choice Awards in the Favorite Dramatic TV Actress category.

Personal life

Katic started a project in 2010 called "The Alternative Travel Project". She lives and shoots Castle in Los Angeles. Katic speaks four languages fluently: English, French, Italian & Serbian, and she can speak in accents of British, Irish, Eastern European, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Slovenen and South African.

Katic wrote the lyrics for "Hey Blue Eyes," which she sang for fans at the 51st Zlín Film Festival in 2011. She holds dual citizenship in the United States and Canada.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Acid Freaks	Annie
2003	Shut-Eye	Angela
2005	Pit Fighter	Marianne
2006	Faceless	Diana Palos	Television film
2006	Dragon Dynasty	Ava	Television film
2007	Feast of Love	Jenny
2008	Stiletto	Raina
2008	Quantum of Solace	Corrine Veneau
2008	'	Simone Renoir	Television film
2008	'	Morgenstern
2008	Truth About Kerry	Emma
2010	For Lovers Only	Sophia
2011	'	Amber
2013	Big Sur	Lenore Kandel
2013	CBGB	Genya Ravan	Post-production
2013	Superman: Unbound	Lois Lane	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	'	Mariella	"Bleak House" (season 1: episode 12)
2004	Alias	Flight Attendant	"Facade" (season 3: episode 15)
2004	L.A. Dragnet	Miriam Nelson	"Retribution" (season 2: episode 8)
2004	The Shield	Ayla	"All In" (season 3: episode 14) "On Tilt" (season 3: episode 15)
2004	JAG	Lucienne Charmoli	"This Just in from Baghdad" (season 10: episode 5)
2005	The Closer	Nadia	"The Big Picture" (season 1: episode 3)
2005	ER	Blaire Collins	"Blame It on the Rain" (season 12: episode 4) "Wake Up" (season 12: episode 5)
2006	24	Collette Stenger	"Day 5: 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m." (season 5: episode 10) "Day 5: 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m." (season 5: episode 13) "Day 5: 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m." (season 5: episode 14) "Day 5: 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m." (season 5: episode 15)
2006	Brothers & Sisters	Karen Wells	"Patriarchy" (season 1: episode 1)
2007	Company Man	Donna Baker	"Pilot" (season 1: episode 1)
2007	Heroes	Hana Gitelman	"Unexpected" (season 1: episode 16) "Five Years Gone" (season 1: episode 20)
2007	CSI: Miami	Rita Sullivan	"Deep Freeze" (season 6: episode 5)
2007	'	Special Agent Debra Lane	"Binary Explosion" (season 3: episode 9)
2008	Would Be Kings	Julianna Martinelli	Mini-series; 2 episodes
2009"present	Castle	Detective Kate Beckett	Main role Prism Award for Best Performance in a Drama Episode TV Guide Award for Favorite Couple Who Should TV Guide Award for Favorite TV Couple Nominated-People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic TV Actress Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama
2012	Fletcher Drive	Greta	"The Intervention" (season 1: episode 1)

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Batman: Arkham City	Talia al Ghul	Voice role