American actress, former ballet dancer, former choreographer, and interior designer Katherine LaNasa. At the young age of 12, she became interested in dancing, and throughout her travels, she successfully created several dance routines. Sanford Meisner taught her acting for 2.5 years before she entered the Hollywood industry.
She is most recognized for her roles in movies like The Campaign and The Frozen Ground as well as TV shows like NBC’s “Three Sisters” and “Deception.”
‘Two and a Half Men,’ ‘NYPD Blue,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘ER,’ ‘House M.D.,’ ‘Justice,’ and ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ are just a few of the most well-known TV shows in which she has made cameos.
Katherine Lanasa’s Date of Birth and Parents
The artist Anne and the cosmetic surgeon Dr. James J. LaNasa Jr. welcomed Katherine LaNasa into the world on December 1st, 1966 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Together with her younger brother, Steven LaNasa, she grew up on Audubon Street. She is of Italian, Sicilian, Cajun, French, English, Scottish, Spanish, Catalan, and German ancestry and is a mixed-race person.
Katherine Lanasa’s Education
Early in life, she discovered a talent for dance. She began studying ballet at the famed “North Carolina School of the Arts” in Winston-Salem when she was only 14 years old in order to build a good base and master this art form.
She started out as a professional performer after completing her apprenticeship with “Milwaukee Ballet.” She performed all across the globe with many groups, such as the “Karole Armitage Ballet” in New York City and the “Ballet West” in Salt Lake City.
She also served as the group’s primary dancer and creative director.
Katherine Lanasa’s Career
She relocated to Los Angeles while still a ballet performer in her early 20s. After being motivated by Sydney Pollack’s documentary on Sanford Meisner, she made the decision to change her profession.
At the time, she was 23 years old and expecting her first kid. She learned where Sandy Meisner was and enrolled at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York, where she finally trained for 2.5 years under his guidance.
She had her first part in a major motion picture in 1989 when she was cast as a waitress in “Catchfire,” which she helped choreograph while working as a choreographer for theater and “Broadway” director John Carrafa (1990). ‘Rocking This Ship,’ her first choreographed theatrical production, was performed in 1989.
She had guest appearances in a variety of well-known TV shows in the 1990s, including “Seinfeld,” “3rd Rock from the Sun,” “Touched by An Angel,” and “The Practice.”
She didn’t get any significant parts to play for a decade after that. She played “Bess Bernstein-Flynn Keats” in the comedy series “Three Sisters” on NBC from 2001 to 2002, which gave her her first major main role.
Despite the fact that the show was discontinued after two seasons, she remains one of its most well-liked characters.
She was given many recurring parts in programs including “Judging Amy” (2003–2005), “The Guardian” (2002–2003), “NYPD Blue” (2002), “Big Love” (2009–2011), “Love Monkey” (2006), and “Longmire” based on her performance in “Three Sisters” (2012–2013).
She also appeared in “12 Miles of Bad Road” on HBO, which was planned to premiere in 2007 or 2008. Only six of the show’s ten episodes were shot as a result of an unfortunate situation, and it was never shown.
Deception (2013), Satisfaction (2014–2015), Devious Maids (2016), Imposter (2017), Dynasty (2018), and Future Man are some of her more recent TV projects (2019).
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Katherine’s career may be broken down into two distinct periods: one before she played the character of “Bess,” and the other thereafter.
After making her big-screen debut in 1990, she was only able to get a few minor parts in films including “Brain Donors” (1992), “Schizopolis” by Steven Soderbergh (1996), “Kiss and Tell” (1996), and “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” (1994).
She gained the most of her fame during the final stages of her acting career, appearing in films including “The Campaign” (2012), “Valentine’s Day” (2010), “Jayne Mansfield’s Car” (2012), and “The Frozen Ground” (2013).
Additionally, she served as executive producer of the contentious 2016 movie “Love is All You Need.” She also made an appearance as “Vicki Curtis” in the film.