Kristin Kreuk Biography

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Kristin Laura Kreuk is a Canadian actress famous for portraying DC Comics character Lana Lang on TV's "Smallville." Her most recently released movie is Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li in which she plays the titular character.

Biography 

 

Early Life

Kristin Laura Kreuk was born December 30th, 1982, in Vancouver, Canada. Both her father and mother were architects, of Dutch and Chinese descent respectively. From a young age she trained in karate and was a promising gymnast, until a spine condition prevented her from continuing. She went to Edith Cavell Elementary School and later Eric Hamber Secondary School, both in Vancouver. It was here that Kristin gained her first experience in acting, performing in several school plays. However, her time on the stage was short lived, as she decided to give it up in order to focus on school work. Having done well academically at school, she initially had plans to further her education, studying either psychology, environmental studies or forensic science at university level.

Acting Career

However, any aspirations for a future in college were cut short while still in school. In order to find a collection of suitable candidates, a casting director working for CBC sent a request to her school, specifically looking for an young Asian student for a new TV series. Hearing about this, Kristin attended an open casting session to audition for a role in a show that would become Edgemont. She initially had concerns about going for the part, having no real acting experience bar several minor school plays, but was finally convinced by her drama teacher. The role also proved to be the most troublesome to cast, with Kristin taking the last remaining character part. Beginning in 2001, Kristin starred as Laurel Yeung and appeared in over 70 episodes before the show’s eventual end. Although Edgemont remained a relatively low profile series, it proved valuable to her development as an actress and also helped widen other opportunities.  

Having by now hired an agent, Kristin began receiving chances to appear in other productions. In 2001, she took on the titular role in the made for TV film, Snow White. Aside from appearing in a movie, Snow White also saw her learn from fellow cast members, and future Oscar nominees, Miranda Richardson and Vera Farmiga. That same year, she also lent her voice to the character of Gina, guesting in the Disney family cartoon show, The Weekenders. In 2003, Kristin decided to leave Edgemont to pursue other projects, though she reprised her role as Laurel for multiple episodes up until the show was cancelled in 2005. 

Also in 2001, Kristin landed the role for which she would soon be best known for. At this time, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar were beginning to develop their new show, Smallville, which would air on the WB Network.  Their idea was to create a show depicting the teenage life of Clark Kent, prior to his rise to become Superman. Upon hearing about the show, Kristin’s agent sent along audition tapes to Gough and Millar, who soon called her in for a live audition. Impressed by what they saw, they cast her as Lana Lang, Kent’s love interest for the majority of the series. Ironically, unlike Edgemont, on this occasion Kristin was to be the first member of the cast to win her role. The show proved to be a hit, regularly drawing large audiences - and even received the approval of the star of the Superman movies, Christopher Reeve. She continued to appear in the series for well over 150 episodes, before deciding to leave the show in 2008. However, her character has since returned for a number of episodes to close out unfinished storylines. She has since said that while she was hopeful for the show, she was initially unsure how it would be received:

‘When I filmed the pilot, I thought it was a quality show with a good cast, but I had no expectations. I just hoped people would connect with it because there's a lot of heart’.


Fresh from leaving Edgemont, the show which had given her the chance to launch a career in the industry,
Kristin next turned her attentions to feature films, while still maintaining her Smallville commitments. She appeared as the character of Tenar in Earthsea, which was ultimately shown as a two part show on the Sci-Fi Channel in late 2004. Her first major movie project proved to be in teen comedy, Eurotrip. Although filmed in 2003, it was not released until the following year. Playing Fiona, her involvement was relatively minor, though her character was responsible for the now infamous song, ‘Scotty Doesn’t Know’, performed by Matt Damon. Although the movie had a substantial budget of $25 million, as well as popular guest stars including Jeffrey Tambor and Vinnie Jones, the film didn’t meet expectations, failing to make back its budget. In addition to draw significant crowds, Eurotrip was met with largely negative reviews. She has since downplayed her involvement in the film: 

‘Eurotrip was just a two-second part with Matt Damon. All I did was dance. I went out to Prague. I shot for two days, and I was there for eight or ten more, just putzing around the city and enjoying myself. Eurotrip was fun’.


 Taking a significant change in direction in 2005, Kristin next appeared in the small budget, independent film, Partition alongside Neve Campbell and Irrfan Khan. Due to the relatively unknown nature of the film and low marketing budget, the film failed to attract much attention.
However, her next project was to be much higher profile, drawing interest for all the wrong reasons. In 2008, she signed on to appear in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, a movie adaptation of the video game franchise - a genre which is notoriously difficult to achieve success in. With Kristin playing the titular character, the film opened in February 2009, filmed on a budget of around $50 million. The film was widely panned by critics, who ridiculed the entire premise and execution. Variety’s Rob Nelson however, did have something of a positive appraisal of Kristin’s involvement, although it was not for her acting - Neither the best nor the worst of movies derived from videogames, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li at least gives action fans plenty to ogle besides the titular heroine (Kristin Kreuk)’. The film also experienced a poor response from fans, reflected in the gross of just over $12 million.
Following the disappointment of her forays onto the big screen, Kristin returned to television. In early 2010, she appeared in NBC comedy series, Chuck, playing Hannah, the newest recruit to the Nerd Herd. Despite only appearing for 4 episodes, she has since spoken positively about her experience on the show: 

‘It's fun, and generally the way it's written, it makes the transition really smooth. Zach's really great, so as a guest star coming in -- and I worked with him primarily -- he can make those transitions really easily. ... They've kind of figured it out already, so I can come in and kind of float in that instead of creating it. I just think they do a really good job with it.’


 Later on in 2010, she appeared in the TV miniseries remake of Ben Hur, playing the titular character’s sister, Tizrah. In 2011, she is set to appear in Vampire and has signed on to produce Blink.    
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General Information Edit
Credited Name Kristin Kreuk
Gender Female
Birthday Dec. 30, 1982
Death
Primary Role Actor
Hometown Vancouver, British Columbia
Country Canada
Website
Email Address
Alias(es) Kristin Laura Kreuk
Kristen Kruek
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  • In today's dollars
    Career $29.8MM
    Average $6MM
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