Kristin Kreuk (born December 30, 1982 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian actress. Her father is of Dutch descent, her mother is of Chinese descent born in Indonesia, and her maternal grandmother was of Chinese descent born in Jamaica.
She's most famous for her roles in Superhero show Smallville as Lana Lang, and as Catherine in The CW's Beauty and the Beast (2012).
In Real Life, she joined NXIVM, a cult led by Keith Raniere, and later brought her Smallville costar Allison Mack into the group. While Kreuk left shortly afterwards, Mack stayed and eventually became Raniere’s second-in-command. In this respect, Kristin Kreuk could be compared to Mimi Rogers, who brought her ex-husband Tom Cruise into Scientology; Rogers has since left while Cruise is now its highest-profile member.
Selected Filmography
- Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001) as Snow White
- EuroTrip (2004) as Fiona
- Dream Princess (2006) as Princess
- Partition (2007) as Naseem Khan
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) as Chun-Li
- Vampire (2011) as Maria Lucas
- Irvine Welshs Ecstasy (2011) as Heather Thompson
- Space Milkshake (2012) as Tilda
- Edgemont (2001 — 2005) as Laurel Yeung
- Smallville (2001 — 2009) as Lana Lang / Louise McCallum / Margaret Isobel Thoreaux
- Earthsea (2004) as Tenar
- Chuck (2009 — 2010) as Hannah
- Ben-Hur (2010) as Tirzah
- Beauty and The Beast (2012 — 2016) as Catherine Chandler
- Burden of Truth (2018 — present) as Joanna Hanley
- Reacher (2022 — present) as Charlene "Charlie" Hubble
- The Weekenders (2001) as Gina
- Robot Chicken (2015) as Oblina / Catherine Chandler
- Shuyan Saga (2017) as Shuyan
Her work provides examples of:
- Action Girl: In a few of her roles. Kristin also trained in both karate and gymnastics in high school.
- Actor-Shared Background:
- In Beauty and the Beast (2012) Catherine's mother was shown to be East Asian in the pilot, just like Kristin's.
- Her character in Burden of Truth is half-Chinese just like Kreuk is in real life.
- Alliterative Name: Kristen Kreuk. Also applies to some of her characters: Lana Lang and Catherine Chandler.
- Dawson Casting: In Smallville Kristin was 19 while playing high school freshman Lana Lang.
- Fake Nationality: She's Canadian, but plays some Asian characters due to her Chinese descent. She has also played American characters.
- Romance on the Set: In Earthsea with Mark Hildreth (Jasper).
- Star-Making Role: Playing Lana Lang in Smallville rose her to stardom.
- What Could Have Been: She was considered to play the role of Helen of Troy in Troy.
