Chris Hauty

Katheryn Winnick is a Canadian actress of Ukrainian descent. She is best known for her role as Lagertha in the television series Vikings. Born in Etobicoke in 1977, she was raised in a Ukrainian family and is fluent in Ukrainian, having learned English only after the age of 8. Winnick has worked with numerous production companies, including Paramount's Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey and New Line's Amusement. One of her early notable roles was Salome in the film When Nietzsche Wept. Winnick's dramatic comedy Cold Souls, co-starring Paul Giamatti, was named the best film at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. In the fall of 2011, Winnick starred in A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, written and directed by Roman Coppola, alongside Bill Murray, Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, and Patricia Arquette. In this film, Winnick played the ex-girlfriend of Charlie Sheen's character. Also in 2011, Winnick guest-starred as Kelly in the Nikita TV series, a spy drama involving a fugitive escaping a high-security prison in Turkey. In 2012, she co-starred with Kurt Russell in The Black Marks, a heist comedy directed by Jonathan Sobel, also featuring Jay Baruchel and Matt Dillon. Winnick portrayed a Ukrainian showgirl who is Kurt Russell's girlfriend in the film. Her role as Lagertha, Ragnar's wife in the TV series Vikings, which began in 2013, brought her worldwide fame. In 2017, she played Laurie, the mother of Jake, one of the protagonists in the Stephen King adaptation, The Dark Tower.