The Transformation Of Katheryn Winnick From Toddler To 44 Years Old

Katheryn Winnick went from playing a fresh-faced young mother to a gray-haired grandma during her six seasons on the critically acclaimed historical drama "Vikings," becoming a big fan favorite in the process. The Canadian actor had a blast portraying legendary Norse warrior Lagertha on History's first-ever scripted series, which begins in the late 8th century and plays out over several war-torn decades. "Lagertha's journey throughout the years has been a huge evolution where she was a farmer, wife, shieldmaiden, queen," she told Rotten Tomatoes. "She's been around the block. At the end, I think we were laughing: I'm like, 'How old is Lagertha now in this season?'" It was a breakout role for Winnick, though she had actually been around for years at that point, and while her transformation isn't quite as dramatic as that of Lagertha, she's definitely changed since she first set her sights on a career in showbusiness (spoiler: she wasn't always blond).

If you're a fan of this bilingual, multitalented actor, then you'll no doubt have been following her career closely since she burst onto the scene with "Vikings" back in 2013, but what was she like before her rise to fame? From her childhood and teenage years to her new life post-Lagertha, we've put together a timeline of Katheryn Winnick's transformation from Toronto toddler to mid-40s film star.

Despite not coming from a showbiz family, Katheryn Winnick found herself drawn to the performing arts from a young age. She was known to invent her own "dance routines," she revealed, with her "aunts and uncles" becoming her regular audience. "I definitely showed a creative side when I was a child," she told Rose & Ivy, adding that she would often "put on these plays as entertainment." She certainly wasn't short of people to cast: Winnick has two brothers, Mark Winnick and Adam Winnick (both of whom are actors in their own right), and a sister named Daria. She once called Daria her "rock" in a cute Instagram post, referring to her as "my beautiful sister."

Winnick showed promising signs early on, but nobody really expected her to make it in Hollywood, mainly because the bright lights of Tinseltown seemed a million miles away from the small Toronto town of Etobicoke. She never stopped believing in herself, however, ignoring all the naysayers. "I always knew I knew I wanted to be a creative storyteller," she explained to Rose & Ivy. "It always drove me, I just didn't know how to do it since I didn't grow up in the business so for me it was a bit of a long shot. I am glad I stuck with it and didn't believe everyone who told me 'no.' I kept pushing myself to find a way."

When she was young, Katheryn Winnick had dark hair like her mother and father, Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Canada before she was born. "I'm actually first-generation Canadian," she told Jimmy Kimmel when the late-night host asked about her heritage during a 2021 chat. "I had to speak Ukrainian for my first language," she said, calling her parents "pretty traditional" and "pretty strict." She went on to reveal that she had to attend "a Ukrainian school every Saturday, which was always a pain in the butt" after you had been to regular school all week. "We'd learn about the traditions, about the Ukrainian culture — and how to make perogies!"

Winnick is extremely proud of her Ukrainian heritage. When she sat down for an interview with the Television Academy, she revealed that she greatly admires Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a pro-European politician who got sent to prison in what The Guardian called "a travesty of justice." The actor referred to Tymoshenko as "such a beautiful role model." Winnick has also been active in raising awareness of the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, during which 3.9 million people are estimated to have died. It was a man-made famine orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in response to Ukrainian resistance during the time of the Soviet Union. "It's something that — it cannot be overlooked," Winnick told Red Carpet News. "It's something that has not been talked about for so many years."

Katheryn Winnick's Lagertha met her end in the "Vikings" Season 6 episode "Death and the Serpent," though that wasn't her last involvement with the show. She returned to direct Season 6's "Valhalla Can Wait," fulfilling a lifelong ambition in the process. "I've always wanted to direct; in high school I used to direct plays and I got a scholarship for it," she told Variety. What made the experience extra special was that her brother Adam had a part in her episode playing Rangvald, the captain of King Harald's forces. "He's the one that comes out and finds the village completely murdered," she said. "My other brother [Mark Winnick] actually played a king in Season 5, he was cast independently from me. To be able to share the ending of six seasons with the family was really nice."

She made sure to take plenty of pictures when her brothers were on set and later shared the cute family snaps on Instagram. Winnick's siblings often pop up in her feed (she paid tribute to them all on National Siblings Day), whether they are just hanging out or jumping from a plane. In December 2020, she and her brother Adam went skydiving for his birthday, an incredible experience that she almost backed out of. "Thanks for throwing me out of [the] plane when I changed my mind and didn't want to jump," she wrote on Instagram, adding in another post, "Even though you pushed me out of a plane, I still love you."

If you've seen Katheryn Winnick in action on Netflix's "Wu Assassins," it won't surprise you to learn that she has a background in martial arts, which she described as her "first love" during an interview with People magazine. "I absolutely love punching and kicking, and kicking the crap out of somebody," she added. The Canadian took her first class at the age of seven, and she would quickly become proficient in both karate and taekwondo. "I got my first black belt at 13," Winnick told Collider. "So, I grew up having a very physical background. I'm a 3rd-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and 2nd degree in karate."

When those around Winnick saw how badass she had become in a relatively short space of time, they wanted in. "I started teaching martial arts at after school programs and over time more and more people asked me to teach them," she told Inc. Inspired by her entrepreneur dad, she decided to open her own dojo. She was just 16 years old at the time. "I started a school in Toronto and it expanded through word of mouth and just took off," she recalled. At the age of 21, she was already the boss of three martial arts schools. Before long, she was getting hired to teach actors how to fight. "I spent time on movie sets and very quickly decided actors have the best job in the world."

Katheryn Winnick's "first ever gig" was the high school sitcom "Student Bodies," Canada's answer to "Saved by the Bell." She debuted on the show in 1999 when she was still as "green as can be," she recalled in an Instagram post. She went on to appear in other Canadian TV series, such as "PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal" and "Relic Hunter," and she would continue to cut her teeth in little-seen movies, including the horror flick "Biohazardous" and the comedy "Smoking Herb." It wasn't until 2005 that she landed her first role of some substance: Ivana Trump, Donald Trump's first wife.

"It was my very first lead on a TV show. It was an ABC TV movie called 'Trump Unauthorized,'" Winnick said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!." "I was so nervous and so excited that I decided just to try to get really into the character." She ended up going "full method" with the role, making sure her hair was always on point and only talking in a Czech accent while on set. "I came in with, literally, a mink coat that I had to borrow from my grandmother." What did Ivana think of "Trump Unauthorized?" Winnick bumped into Trump's first wife in an Aspen ski hotel a few years later, and she took the opportunity to ask her in person. "I have not seen yet," Ivana said to Winnick, who admitted to being starstruck. "She was my first celebrity that I met back in the day."

The following entry contains mentions of rape.

"Trump Unauthorized" failed to move the critics, and some even singled out Katheryn Winnick's performance as a low point (Variety called her out for "using an accent that makes you wonder when she'll urge Boris to kill moose and squirrel"). That wasn't the case when the Canadian appeared on "House" in a guest star role a few years later. Winnick played a patient in the 2007 episode "One Day, One Room," in which the series' titular doctor is sent to work in the clinic as a form of punishment. It's there that he meets Eve (Winnick), who, as House soon figures out, is a victim of rape.

Speaking to Rose & Ivy, Winnick revealed that her well-received turn on the Hugh Laurie-led medical drama almost led to a show of her own. "It was a pretty strong guest arc," she said, noting that it gave her the opportunity "to go toe-to-toe with" Laurie. "FOX noticed me and offered me a holding deal from that to pursue my own show. Unfortunately the writers strike happened but it gave me the confidence I needed," she recalled. She continued to land guest star roles in the years that followed, popping up in the likes of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," and "The Gates."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Before "Vikings," Katheryn Winnick was best known for her stint on "Bones," appearing in seven episodes of the popular procedural between 2010 and 2011. She played Hannah Burley, a journalist who had an off-screen thing with FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) during his time in Afghanistan. She moved to Washington so they could be together in Season 6, which didn't go down well with many fans of the show, who were still hoping that Booth would end up with forensic anthropologist Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel).

"I heard that I may be causing a stir," Winnick said in a conference call at the time, per The TV Mega Site Inc. "But, I'm excited about it. I think people are going to be excited about my character." It didn't work out for Burley and Booth, but Winnick had fun playing the feisty war correspondent. "I'm very similar to her in a lot of ways," she said. "Being work driven, being ambitious, being always wanting more out of life and finding out the facts, and not one to sit around and let things happen to me, but really making things happen."

Winnick was making plenty of movie appearances around this time, too, most notably "The Art of the Steal." She wore a black wig in the Kurt Russell-led crime caper. "It was interesting to see how the cast and crew reacted to someone differently just by your physical appearance," she told FansShare. "They had no idea I was blonde."

Because her character in "Vikings" was based on a legendary figure from the Norse sagas, Katheryn Winnick always had some idea of where Lagertha's story would head. She knew that she was fated to die on the show ("It was always part of the conversation," Winnick said), but her big send-off actually came a lot later than originally intended. The Canadian was such a hit in the role that showrunner Michael Hirst wanted to keep her around for longer. "I think originally [I was] supposed to stay on just for the first couple of years and now, really six seasons later, Lagertha is now a granny and still living," she told TV Guide ahead of her departure from "Vikings."

Fans were sad to see one of the show's most iconic characters meet her end in such shocking circumstances (the unsuspecting shieldmaiden was stabbed to death by the hallucinating son of her late ex-husband), but Winnick was happy with how it all went down. Her character had pretty much seen it all by that point, and the time was right to lay her to rest. "I feel that there wasn't really much else to do," the Toronto native said. "I couldn't feel more blessed than to have a character for so many years and [to get] a chance to be put through the wringer and under different circumstances, but it definitely felt the timing was right to finish off her storyline."

Katheryn Winnick landed roles in a couple of big projects during her time on "Vikings," taking advantage of the exposure she got from the hit show. In 2017, she played Laurie Chambers (the mother of Tom Taylor's Jake Chambers) in the highly anticipated — and, sadly, highly disappointing – big-screen adaptation of "The Dark Tower," Stephen King's beloved sci-fi fantasy Western series. It was a far cry from Lagertha, but she found Laurie to be a badass in a different way. "You don't necessarily have to be holding an ax to be able to show the strengths," Winnick told Red Carpet News. "There's strength in your willpower, there's strength in how you deal with conflicts, and having that ability to be able to show strength in different ways is what makes our job exciting."

One of the things that attracted her to the doomed project was the strong cast: British star Idris Elba took on the role of Roland Deschain (aka the Gunslinger, the protagonist of the series), while Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey was hired to play Randall Flagg (aka the Man in Black, Roland's arch-nemesis). Winnick gushed about her co-stars during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "[Elba] is so tall when you see him in person," she said. "He's so charming and I've been a huge fan of him and his TV shows." From the sound of it, McConaughey was just as charming. "His stare and his voice, you can't help but be mesmerized."

Katheryn Winnick tried to convince the creators of "Bones" to let her show off her martial arts skills (she envisioned a "showdown" between her and Emily Deschanel's character), but they wouldn't be swayed. In 2019, she finally got to showcase her talent in front of a worldwide audience, appearing in Netflix's critically acclaimed kung fu series, "Wu Assassins." Led by Iko Uwais, the breakout star of the hit Indonesian action film "The Raid," the show is set in San Francisco and pits Uwais against the Triads. He gets a helping hand from undercover cop Christine "CG" Gavin (Winnick), who more than holds her own when the pair have to fight their way out of trouble.

When she spoke to Entertainment Tonight about the series, Winnick revealed that she did all of her own stunts, though that was nothing new. "I've been doing all my own stunts for years," she added. The hard part was getting behind the camera and directing the action herself. Like she did with "Vikings," Winnick helmed an episode of "Wu Assassins," and it was "a challenge," she said. "To shoot kung fu style was really interesting; it's a whole different way of shooting action." As of this writing, there's been no word on when we might see a second season of the show, but in 2021, Variety revealed that Netflix had ordered a standalone "Wu Assassins" movie, to be shot in Thailand. Winnick, however, is not listed as a member of the cast on IMDb.

While she was happy to say goodbye to Lagertha when she did, Katheryn Winnick admitted that life without "Vikings" was kind of scary at first. The hit show came to an end in 2020, and while there's a follow-up series in the works, it's set well after the events of the original and won't feature any of the characters that fans grew to love. Winnick was left looking for a new TV home, and she found one in ABC's crime drama "Big Sky," created by David E. Kelley. "It's been an adjustment and it was a little intimidating in a lot of ways," she told Collider. "Coming off of a show, after six seasons and playing such an iconic, formidable character like Lagertha, to dive into a new TV series and a new character with Jenny Hoyt was daunting and a little nerve wracking."

The reason she felt so comfortable signing on to "Big Sky" was the showrunner, who previously created the likes of "Ally McBeal" and "Big Little Lies." Winnick had been a big fan of Kelley for years, so when the opportunity to play ex-cop Jenny Hoyt came along, she didn't hesitate. "What I love about how he writes women is that they're also very flawed, they don't have it all together, they do have traumas, and you will see that unfold as the series goes on," Winnick added. The show was renewed for a second season that premiered in September 2021.