Stana Katic (
/ˈstɑːnə ˈkætɪk/;
[1] Serbo-Croatian pronunciation:
[kǎːtitɕ]; born 26 April 1978
[2][3]) is a Canadian-American actress and producer. She played
Kate Beckett on the
ABC television romantic crime series
Castle (2009–2016) and Agent Emily Byrne in the thriller series
Absentia (2017–present).
Early life[edit]
Katic was born in
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
[4] In describing her ethnicity, she has stated "My parents are
Serbs from Croatia. I call us
Dalmatian because that's the part of the planet that we are originally from. I have Serb, Croat and even a handful of
Montenegrin family members."
[5] Her father is from
Vrlika,
Croatia, and her mother is from the surrounding area of
Sinj, Croatia.
[6] Katic later moved with her family to
Aurora, Illinois.
[7] She spent the following years moving back and forth between Canada and the United States. After graduating from
West Aurora High School in 1996, Katic enrolled to study International Relations, Economics and pre-law at the
University of Toronto's
Trinity College[8][9] and then at
The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she studied toward an MFA in acting from 2000 to 2002.
[7] Katic also studied acting at the
Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school.
[10] She has four brothers and one sister.