Stana Katic

Date of Birth

26 April 1978, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Stana Katic (; born April 26, 1978) is a film and television actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Detective Kate Beckett in ABC's Castle.

Early life

Katic was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to a Serbian father and Croatian mother, who both immigrated from Croatia. 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 acting at Chicago's Goodman School of Drama. She has four brothers and one sister.
In addition to English, she speaks Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, French and Italian.

Career

Katic played the character of Hana Gitelman in Heroes, Collette Stenger in 24 's season 5, and Jenny in the Morgan Freeman-starring film Feast of Love. 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 Rick Castle.
In 2008, Katic established her own production company, Sine Timore Productions, which in Latin means "without fear."
In the summer of 2010 Katic filmed For Lovers Only with the Polish brothers in France and The Double with Richard Gere.
At the 3rd 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 3641 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.

Trivia

Stana is a multilingual and is fluent in Serbian, Croatian, French, English and Italian. She can also speak in accents of British, Irish, Eastern European, Italian, Spanish, Greek and South African.

Much like her character Kate Beckett, Stana is an avid reader. She also has a strong interest in environmental issues, archery and music.

Her hometown is Hamilton, Ontario, located about an hour from Toronto.

Revealed on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (2005) on May 4, 2009, that she has four brothers and used to cut their hair.

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Nathan Fillion

Date of Birth

27 March 1971, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Birth Name

Nathan Christopher Fillion

Height

6' 1½" (1.87 m)

Mini Biography

Canadian-born actor Nathan Fillion gained critical acclaim and a large cult of fans when he starred as Captain Malcolm Reynolds on the Joss Whedon TV series "Firefly" (2002), having previously been a regular on "One Life to Live" (1968) and "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" (1998). Fillion had also appeared in small roles in the films Blast from the Past (1999) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Whedon gave Fillion a chance to display his range when he cast Fillion as the twisted preacher Caleb, a villain, in the seventh and final season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997).

When "Firefly" (2002) was prematurely canceled in late 2002, the show's cast, crew, and many fans were devastated. Whedon vowed to resurrect the series in some way, and Fillion played Captain Reynolds again in the feature-film Serenity (2005). Fillion followed this film with more big screen leading roles in the horror-comedy Slither (2006) and the indie hit Waitress (2007). He also continued to be a force in television, starring in the short-lived Fox-TV series "Drive" (2007) and appearing on ABC's "Desperate Housewives" (2004). He took his first singing part (and cemented his cult appeal) as Captain Hammer in Whedon's musical Internet smash "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (2008).

Trade Mark

Known for playing unusual but highly likeable characters

Trivia

Wanted to be a high school drama teacher. In college he majored in art and minored in drama while pursuing an acting career on the side.

Originally auditioned for the role of Angel for Joss Whedon's first television series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997). However, never met Joss Whedon until he auditioned for the part of Mal on "Firefly" (2002).

When he won Best Actor at the 2006 SyFy Genre Awards for his portrayal of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in "Firefly" (2002), the show had been off the air for around three years.

Parents are Cookie and Bob Fillion, both of whom are retired English teachers.

Has an older brother, Jeff.

Attended Concordia University College of Alberta and the University of Alberta.

One of four actors from "Firefly" (2002) who voiced superheroes on "Justice League" (2001). He voiced the Western-themed "Vigilante" whileAdam Baldwin voiced "Hal Jordan," the Silver Age-Green Lantern; Gina Torres voiced "Vixen"; and Morena Baccarin voiced "Black Canary.".

Claims to be descended from Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early. When told this, Joss Whedon created a bounty hunter by the name of "Jubal Early" for the "Firefly" (2002) episode "Firefly: Objects in Space (#1.10)" (2002).

Auditioned for the role of Michael in Dawn of the Dead (2004).

He considers his time on "Firefly" (2002) to be the most fun he had on a TV series.

Was a popular fan choice for the role of the heroic pilot Hal Jordan in Green Lantern (2011), but the role went to Ryan Reynolds instead. Fillion voiced Jordan in the animated feature Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011) (V) as a replacement for Christopher Meloni, who had voiced Jordan in Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) (V), but was unable to reprise the role due to scheduling conflicts.

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