- published: 25 Mar 2015
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Kristin Laura Kreuk ( /ˈkruːk/; born December 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress and executive producer, best known for her roles as Lana Lang in the American television series Smallville and her role as Laurel Yeung in the Canadian teen drama Edgemont. She has starred in movies such as Eurotrip and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
Kreuk stars as Catharine Chandler in The CW's Beauty and the Beast television series that will air in Fall 2012.
Kreuk was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her father, Peter Kreuk, is of Dutch descent; her mother, Deanna Che, is of Chinese descent, but was born in Indonesia; her maternal grandmother was born in Jamaica of Chinese descent. Both parents are landscape architects. She has a sister named Justine, who is about five years younger.[citation needed] Kreuk trained in karate and gymnastics at the national level until high school but quit in Grade 11 due to scoliosis.
After shooting the first season of Edgemont (a teenage soap opera set at a Vancouver-area high school) and getting herself an agent, Kreuk landed the lead role of Snow White in a TV movie titled Snow White: The Fairest of Them All. The film, shot in Vancouver, also starred Miranda Richardson and was directed by Caroline Thompson. It aired on ABC, and later released on DVD, in 2002. In 2003, Kreuk ended her role on Edgemont. In the summer of 2004, Kreuk took the role of Tenar for the Sci Fi Channel two-part miniseries Legend of Earthsea. The miniseries was filmed in Vancouver, directed by Rob Lieberman and broadcast on December 13, 2004.