Stana Katic

Stana Katić (/ˈstɑːnə ˈkætɪk/; born (1978-04-26)April 26, 1978) is a Canadian and American actress. She played Kate Beckett on the ABC television romantic crime series Castle (2009–2016) and FBI Special Agent Emily Byrne in the psychological thriller series Absentia (2017–2020).

Katic was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In describing her ethnicity, she has stated "My parents are Serbs from Croatia. I call us Dalmatian because that's the part of the planet that we are originally from. I have Serb, Croat and even a handful of Montenegrin family members." Her father is from Vrlika, Croatia, and her mother is from the surrounding area of Sinj, Croatia.

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, Katic enrolled to study International Relations, Economics, and pre-law at the University of Toronto's Trinity College, then enrolled at The Theatre School at DePaul University where she studied acting from 2000 to 2002. Katic studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school.

Katic played Hana Gitelman in Heroes, Collette Stenger in 24's season five, and Jenny in the film Feast of Love starring Morgan Freeman. She also played Morgenstern in Frank Miller's film The Spirit, Canadian Intelligence agent Corrine Veneau in the James Bond film 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".

The entertainment website BuddyTV placed Katic, as Kate Beckett in Castle, on its annual list of "TV's 100 Sexiest Women" every year from 2009 to 2013, including at No. 1 in 2011. Aside from her looks, the website also gave her some credit as an actress, placing Katic at No. 6 on its list of "The 15 Best Drama Lead Actresses of the 2011–2012 TV Season". Katic was also on the Maxim Hot 100 list from 2012 through 2014.

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 28 March 2011, she won the actress category. In May 2011, she won the Most Glamorous Actress online ballot for the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

In 2011, she served as a jury member at the Film Festival Zlín, where For Lovers Only made its world premiere. Big Sur, in which she plays Lenore Kandel, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. In conjunction with the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, there was an official announcement in Entertainment Weekly that she would become the voice for Talia al Ghul in Batman: Arkham City.