Katheryn Winnick had no idea that playing the legendary shieldmaiden Lagertha in History’s “Vikings” would be her big break in the industry; she only knew that she really wanted the part. She worked with a Scandinavian dialect coach before filming her audition tape, which would catch the attention of creator and showrunner Michael Hirst.
“I went to great lengths to try to do everything I could to get this role,” Winnick told Collider. “I ended up actually going to a Halloween costume store and renting a costume to try to really embody what Vikings would wear for my screen test.” The rest is (no pun intended) history.
She gained a cult following during her time on the show (seeing tattoos of her face on strangers’ bodies at Comic-Con became a regular occurrence), but Winnick is known for more than just “Vikings.” Her kung-fu series “Wu Assassins” dropped on Netflix to positive reviews in 2019, though, in terms of movies,
she’s never fared very well with the critics: she was in the ill-fated big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s classic series “The Dark Tower,” and the less said about the John Travolta-led “Speed Kills” (which scored a big fat zero on Rotten Tomatoes), the better. The Canadian actor has been misused and overlooked by the movie studios, especially when you consider her range of talents.
Katheryn Winnick is a first-generation Canadian, born to Ukrainian immigrant parents in December 1977. She and her siblings (she has two brothers, Mark Winnick and Adam Winnick, and a sister, Daria Winnick) were all brought up speaking Ukrainian as their first language, she revealed during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!.”
“We spoke Ukrainian at home, and obviously English as well,” Winnick explained. “We went to Ukrainian school every Saturday, which is always a pain in the butt when you have to go every Saturday!” Despite losing half her weekend, she enjoyed learning about Ukraine’s culture and traditions, and she remains fluent in the language to this day.
Winnick had a happy childhood in Toronto and often shares throwback photos of her young self, but there were times when she felt as though a career in showbiz was a “long shot,” she admitted to Rose & Ivy. “I come from a very strong Ukrainian family,” the actor said. “It was one of those things that even to leave Toronto was a big deal.”
She had to contend with people constantly telling her that Hollywood was a pipe dream, though that only added fuel to the flames. “I am glad I stuck with it and didn’t believe everyone who told me ‘No,'” she said. “I kept pushing myself to find a way.”
Katheryn Winnick always knew that she’d find a way into acting eventually, but the route she took to Hollywood was a pretty unconventional one. The Canadian developed a passion for Taekwondo and karate at a young age, and this would ultimately lead her to the screen.
“I started training in martial arts when I was seven years old,” she told Collider. “I got my first black belt at 13.” And she didn’t stop there. “I’m a 3rd-degree black belt in Taekwondo and 2nd degree in karate,” she added. She got so good that she started teaching classes herself, and before long, film producers were hiring her to show their actors the ropes.
“I started in the [entertainment] field by teaching actors martial arts on movie sets,” Winnick explained to Composure magazine. “I was their trainer as well as their stunt double. That’s how I got a chance to see what a stunt life is like, and I realized it’s amazing and I would love to be a part of it in front of the camera.
That was really my journey.” She still does all of her own stunts to this day, which her “Vikings” co-stars can attest to. It’s something she “takes seriously,” Kieran O’Reilly, who played Ivar’s bodyguard White Hair on the hit History show, told Metro.
Katheryn Winnick’s after-school martial arts classes got so popular so quickly that she sensed a business opportunity. Aged just 16, she opened her own martial arts school, and it proved to be a wise decision. “I started a school in Toronto and it expanded through word of mouth and just took off,” the actor told Inc. “My dad was an entrepreneur so I had a great role model.
He showed me that if you want to do something great the best way is to do it yourself.” She named her school WIN KAI Martial Arts, a mixture of her name and the word kai, meaning “the art of the foot” in Korean.
Winnick was delighted when she got placed right next to the action (the scene involved “a big car crash where the lead actors come out and they notice two cars colliding”), and she was determined to get noticed. “I thought, ‘This is my chance!'” she said. “So, when the director calls ‘Action,’ I started acting, I started telling everybody, ‘Call 911, do this, do that!’ And I had no idea that you’re not supposed to do that.” To the surprise of absolutely nobody on set, she was “fired” pretty much instantly. She left in tears and waited for her mom to come and pick her up. “I promised myself [that] one day I will be a lead actor.”