Kristin Kreuk is a Canadian actress who is most famous for playing Superman’s love interest, Lana Lang in the successful television series “Smallville”. She has also been involved in several other shows, before, during, and after the it TV show.
Kreuk played Johanna Hanley in the legal drama series “Burden of Truth” and appeared in a main role in the 2001 film “Beauty and the Beast”.
Although she was born in Canada, she is actually biracial with a Chinese mother who was born in Indonesia. Kristin Kreuk has disclosed that she is very shy and leads a somewhat boring life, but she did share that she loves reading, writing, dancing, knitting, and gymnastics. She also enjoys meeting up with friends, which, quite frankly, does not sound all that boring after all.
Top 10 facts about Kristin Kreuk
- Kristin Kreuk was born on 30 December 1982, and she will turn 39 years old on her birthday in 2021.
- Her honest assessment of her life is that she is shy and boring.
- Her mother is Chinese, with Indonesian roots, while her father was born by Dutch parents.
- Early in her life, Kreuk received training in karate and gymnastics.
- Kreuk was diagnosed with Scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine.
- The actress still takes jazz and Bollywood dance classes to help her stay fit.
- Prior to becoming an actress, she originally wanted to go to the university to study psychology or forensic science.
- Kristin Kreuk is currently unmarried and it is unknown if she is in a relationship.
- Kreuk’s career suffered a hit after her alleged involvement in NXIVM, an American cult that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor and racketeering.
- Along with her friend, Kreuk co-owns a production company called Parvati Creative Inc.
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Early life
Kristin Laura Kreuk is a Canadian actress born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 30 December 1982 to Deanna Che and Peter Kreuk, who were both landscape architects.
The actress’s ethnicity is quite diverse. Her mother, Deanna Che, is of Chinese origin and was born in Indonesia. Kreuk’s maternal grandmother was Chinese-Jamaican. Her mother and grandmother lived in Singapore and on the Solomon Islands before finally settling in Canada. Kristin Kreuk has a sister, Justine Kreuk, but there is no detail known about her.
The actress was trained in karate and gymnastics during high school before quitting after being diagnosed with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. She had been a competitive gymnast and practised karate for five years before quitting.
Unlike many other actors who knew since childhood that they wanted to pursue acting, Kristin Kreuk had originally planned to study psychology or forensic science at the university. However, in her final year of high school, a casting agent searching for actors of Chinese descent posted a notice in her school. Her teacher pushed her to audition for the role, and that was how she got her foot in the door.
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Career
Kristin got her foot in the film industry through the TV series “Edgemont”. She got this role after responding to a casting call that was posted in her school. She has her high school teacher to thank for the role and her subsequent sojourn in acting because they encouraged her to audition for the role.
“Edgemont” lasted for four years, running from 2001 to 2005. Kreuk had a main role in the television show and enjoyed a lot of screen time. Before “Edgemont” aired in 2001, Kreuk had already made appearances in the TV film “Snow White: The Fairest Of Them All” and the TV series “The Weekenders”.
2001 was a particularly good year for Kristin Kreuk as this was the same year that she made her debut in the TV series “Smallville”.
She made regular appearances as she had a main role as Clark Kent’s love interest. After the seventh season of the ten-season show, however, fans noticed that Kreuk made fewer appearances in the show.
Her character had been infused with meteor powers so she and Clark Kent could not be together. In season eight, she returned for five episodes to tie up her character’s storyline. In those episodes, it was revealed that she had moved to Africa, and while she lost her meteor powers, she chose to stay in Africa and continue her philanthropic work.
In real life, Kristin Kreuk left the show to focus on something else. She said during a 2008 interview, “I love the people and it’s a wonderful show to work on but I realized there were things I couldn’t do due to the schedule on Smallville. Lana has changed so much since the first season so she was always fun to play. I just wanted to try something else.”
That something else was the role of Chun Li in “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li”, which came after she had appeared in other films including, “Eurotrip” and “Partition”.
After her role in this film, she went on to appear in “Vampire”, “Irvin Welsh’s Ecstacy” and “Space Milkshake”, where she was also executive producer.
Although Kreuk has been very successful in the film industry, she has recorded more success on TV shows. After leaving “Smallville”, she made appearances in “Earthsea”, “Ben Hur”, “Chuck”, “Beauty & The Beast”, “Robot Chicken”, “Burden of Truth” and “Ghostwriter”.
Kreuk has also worked as a voice actress, voicing Shuyan in the game “Shuyan Saga” and Kaitlin Lau in “Watch Dogs: Legion”, which included a performance capture. She has also served as a producer on two films, 2011’s “Blink” and an unannounced documentary film titled “Phoolan”, where she was also an executive producer.
Kristin Kreuk’s work has won many awards. In 2015, she was voted the most beautiful person in Canada, according to an online poll put together by ET Canada. She has been nominated for many awards including, a Saturn Award, Teen Choice Award, Leo Award, and a Canadian Screen Award.
Additionally, she has won the 2014 and 2015 People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Actress for her work in “Beauty & The Beast”. In 2019, she was awarded the Canadian Award of Distinction at the Rockie Awards.
Kristin Kreuk NXIVM and Allison Mack
In 2018, a scandal broke out involving Kreuk, her fellow “Smallville” star Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan), and a sex cult called NXIVM.
A Rolling Stone article alleged that Kreuk was a high-ranking member of the sex cult and helped founder Keith Raniere recruit sex slaves alongside her ex-boyfriend, Mark Hildreth.
The accusations against the group include branding women with the initials of the founder, Raniere. Kristin Kreuk immediately shared a statement with ELLE that she also posted on Twitter, denying any involvement in the club’s illegal activities.
She stated that she was involved with the club when she was 23 for self-help purposes to overcome her shyness. She also said that she never witnessed any illegal activities while she was a part of the club. Kreukleft the club after five years.
Her statement reads, “When I was about 23, I took an Executive Success Programs/NXIVM “intensive,” what I understood to be a self-help/personal growth course that helped me handle my previous shyness, which is why I continued with the program.
“I left about five years ago and had minimal contact with those who were still involved. The accusations that I was in the “inner circle” or recruited women as “sex slaves” are blatantly false. During my time, I never experienced any illegal or nefarious activity. I am horrified and disgusted by what has come out about DOS.
“Thank you to all of the brave women who have come forward to share their stories and expose DOS; I can’t imagine how difficult this has been for you. I am deeply disturbed and embarrassed to have been associated with NXIVM. I hope that the investigation leads to justice for all of those affected.”
Her co-star, Allison Mack, on the other hand, was not as spotless. She was arrested and found guilty of manipulating women into becoming slaves for the cult’s leader. Thanks to her cooperation with the authorities, Mack was sentenced to three years in prison while Raniere bagged a 120-year prison sentence.
Kristin Kreuk married
If Kristin Kreuk has ever been married, then it is not known to the public. However, she dated singer Mark Hildreth and co-star Jensen Ackles. While her relationship with Ackles lasted for two years between 2004 and 2006, her romance with Hildreth lasted much longer.
The two have dated on and off since 2004, and even bought a home together in Los Angeles, but they later broke things off in 2013. Since then, Kreuk has not appeared in public with any other partner.
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Social media
Kristin Kreuk is active on Instagram and Twitter, where she shares regular updates on her life, projects that she is working on, and causes close to her heart. She is a member of UNICEF, Red Cross, and Greenpeace, after all.
These are her only social media accounts. Fans can follow the actress on Instagram at @mskristinlkreuk, where she has almost 500 thousand followers or on Twitter at @mskristinkreuk, where she has 250 thousand followers.
Net worth
The majority of Kristin Kreuk’s net worth comes from her work in film. For her work in “Smallville”, she was paid 40 thousand dollars ($40,000) for each episode of the first three seasons, after which her salary exploded to 270 thousand dollars ($270,000) for each episode of season four and beyond.
Kristin Kreuk is also famously known as the longest-running ambassador of cosmetics brand Neutrogena. Thanks to all this, she has amassed quite a tiny sum for herself. As of 2020, her net worth stands at 4 million dollars ($4 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Conclusion
Kristin Kreuk’s entry into the world of moviemaking happened by chance, but what came after that, she has mostly done herself, showing off her considerable talents in front of a screen. The actress has been successful in TV shows, never letting a huge, potentially career-destroying scandal stop her, especially when she wasn’t guilty.
Kreuk has achieved quite a lot in the industry and going by that, she still has a lot more ground to cover. We can’t wait to see what next she works on as she follows her dreams and takes on more interesting characters.
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Interesting
Remember her.