Kristin Kreuk

Kristin Laura Kreuk (; born December 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress. Debuting on teen drama Edgemont, she became most known for her roles as Lana Lang in the superhero television series Smallville (2001–2011), also as Catherine Chandler in The CW sci-fi series Beauty & the Beast (2012–2016) and as Joanna Hanley in the CBC legal drama series Burden of Truth (2018–2021). She has also starred in movies such as the TV movie Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001) and both theatrical movies EuroTrip (2004) and Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy (2011). Early life Kreuk was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Deanna Che and Peter Kreuk, two landscape architects. Her father is of Dutch descent. Her mother is of Chinese descent, born in Indonesia; her maternal grandmother was Chinese Jamaican. Her mother and grandmother lived in Singapore and the Solomon Islands before settling in Vancouver. She has a younger sister, Justine Kreuk. Kreuk trained in karate and gymnastics at the national level until high school, but quit in grade 11 due to scoliosis. Kreuk was planning to study forensic science or psychology at Simon Fraser University and was surprised when a casting director for the CBC television series Edgemont contacted her at her high school.