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Kristin Laura Kreuk (born December 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles on the Canadian television series teen soap Edgemont and on the American television series Smallville in which she stars as Lana Lang. A strikingly beautiful brunette hailing from Vancouver who simultaneously starred on two series lensed in her hometown, actress Kristin Kreuk was filling out college applications when an advisor gave some excellent guidance and suggested the young woman try out for the locally-produced teen soap "Edgemont". A CBC production that aired on Fox Family Channel in the USA, "Edgemont" was a thoughtful series that, uncharacteristically for youth-aimed drama, hit home far more often than it missed its mark. Kreuk played Laurel, a sweet and sophisticated Torontonian who has a hard time adjusting to her new suburban life, especially in her high school, where her urban roots lead to presumptions of sexual promiscuity. Her close friendship and subsequent unwitting seduction of the male half of the school's golden couple certainly didn't help her cause, but Kreuk's soft-spoken but strong performance as the character brought out Laurel's sincerity and smarts and made her hard to root against. Kristin 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 is born in Jamaica of Chinese descent. Both parents are landscape architects. She has a sister who is about five years younger. Kreuk trained in gymnastics at the national level until high school but quit in grade 11 due to scoliosis. She attended Eric Hamber Secondary School in Vancouver. She had plans to study either psychology, environmental science, or forensic science at Simon Fraser University when a casting director for the CBC TV series Edgemont contacted her secondary school, looking for an exotic-looking girl to play the part of a Chinese Canadian, Laurel Yeung on the Vancouver-shot show. Kreuk's drama teacher convinced Kreuk, who had no previous acting experience other than in musicals at her high school, to audition for the role. To her surprise, she won the part. Kreuk was next cast as Lana Lang opposite Tom Welling's Clark Kent in The WB series "Smallville" (2001- ), the two making a couple so uncommonly appealing that the drama surrounding the star-crossed nature of their relationship was heightened. Again she played a smart beauty and though here her character was orphaned thanks to the freak meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth, she was an amazingly well-adjusted and understandably popular high school student with a heart of gold. After shooting the first season of Edgemont (a teen 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 on March 17, 2002. Her dark-hair, doll-like features and perfect rosy skin matched with her glowing presence and made her a perfect candidate to play the title role in the 2002 ABC "The Wonderful World of Disney" live-action presentation "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All". After Snow White, Kreuk's agent sent an audition tape to screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who at the time were putting together the cast of a show they had created for the WB Network entitled Smallville. The series (which was slated to be shot in Vancouver) revolves around the life of teenager Clark Kent before he becomes Superman. Gough and Millar called Kreuk to WB's studios in Burbank, California to audition for the role of Clark Kent's love, Lana Lang. Originally, Kreuk was unsure about auditioning for Lana's role, as the character was to be a popular, gorgeous cheerleader, so she assumed that the part would be that of a shallow idiot. However, upon reading the graveyard scene from the pilot, she was so impressed that when she was offered the role, she immediately accepted. In 2003, Kreuk wrapped up 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. The executives at Neutrogena made her the spokesmodel for their new worldwide ad campaign; in this regard Kreuk followed in the footsteps of fellow teen stars such as Jennifer Love Hewitt and Mandy Moore. In 2005, she renewed her contract with Neutrogena for another two years, making her the company's longest-serving model spokesperson. In 2003, she made her first feature film, a cameo appearance in the film Eurotrip, starring Scott Mechlowicz and Michelle Trachtenberg. The film, shot in Prague, Czech Republic, also featured cameos by Matt Damon and Lucy Lawless. It debuted in theatres on February 20, 2004. In early 2005, Kreuk signed on to the independent feature film Partition. She plays Naseem, a vulnerable seventeen-year-old whose world is shattered by the trauma of the Partition of India in 1947, but falls in love with ex-British Indian Army officer Gian Singh (played by Jimi Mistry). Neve Campbell also stars. The film is directed by Vic Sarin and is a co-production between Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The film was released to Canadian theaters on February 2, 2007, with a subsequent Region 1 (US and Canada) DVD release on June 26, 2007. In the summer of 2006, a short film called the Dream Princess by comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews was made, where Kreuk plays The Princess. The film is a modern sci-punk retelling of the tale of Sleeping Beauty, with a twist. It is due to be released in 2007 in Canada. Kreuk recently signed onto the upcoming film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, in which she will play Chun Li. |
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