Born: 17-12-1977
Birthplace: Toronto
Country: Canada
Occupation: Actress
Height: 5' 6" (1,68 m)
This Canadian actress is from Ukrainian descent who grew up with two brothers. She is daughter of Lesia and Roman Winnicki who both immigrated from Ukraine to Canada. Her brother Adam is a Canadian soldier who fights in Afghanistan and her second brother Markjan is actor. She speaks Ukrainian until she was eight years old and learned english later.
Martial Arts
She begins with martial arts training when she was 7, and obtained her first black belt when she was 13. She currently holds a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo and a second-degree black belt in Karate. She is an accomplished martial artist who competes nationally at tournaments. She won the silver medal in the finals at the Canadian taekwondo tournament.
She has three successful taekwondo schools in New York and Toronto. She opened her first taekwondo school Win Kai Martial Arts when she was sixteen. She did an bodyguard training and works now as licensed bodyguard.
She started behind the camera as martial arts trainer for stars. She gave martial arts lessons backstage untill the glamorous life attracts her in order to start acting. She took acting classes at the New York's William Esper Studio in order to become an better actress.
Action Movie Career
She made her action movie debut as Roselyn in one episode next to Tia Carrere who plays the lead role as professor Sydney Fox in the action TV series ''Relic Hunter'' (1999 - 2002). Sydney is a primarily relic hunter who travels with her linguistic assistant Nigel (played by Christien Anholt) worldwide for ancient artifacts with the intention to bring them back to museums, and/or to the ancestors of the original owner. She fights very often against rival hunters who seek artifacts for money.
She plays next to Tom Selleck who plays the lead role as Mr. Kornfeldt in ''Killers'' (2010). Spencer Aimes (played by Ashton Kutcher) finds true love in beautiful computer techie Jen Kornfeldt (played by Katherine Heigl). The couple marries and have the perfect marriage until the morning after Spencer's 30th birthday. Their lives will never be the same again because they notice that Spencer target is of a multi-million dollar hit.
She plays Valerie Dorman in one episode of the action TV series ''The Glades'' (2010) and plays Kelly in one episode of the action TV series ''Nikita'' (2010 - 2013). She plays also Darcy Daniels in one episode of the action TV series ''Transporter: The Series (2012)''.
She plays shield maiden Lagertha who is the wife of young Viking farmer Ragnar (played by Travis Fimmel) in the action TV series ''Vikings'' (2013). He's very ambitious with his plan to discover civilizations across the seas. He gets an conflict with conservative ruler Earl Haraldson (played by Gabriel Byrne), who has a timid vision about traveling. Ragnar is driven by a wayward instinct and ambition who builds an innovative Viking longship. He possesses an unproven navigation tool which is very revolutionair and promising. Ragnar recruits a crew of loyal warriors and begins his journey.
Achievements And Awards
She won the ''Short Film Award for ''Best Actress'' at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival in 2002. Her role in'' Cold Souls'' earned her a nod for "Best Ensemble Cast" at the Independent Spirit Awards in 2009. She won the ''Best Female Performance (Best Actress)'' award at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in 2012. She was nominated for the "Best Performance by a Lead Dramatic Actress" award for her role as "Lagertha" at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.
Action Filmography
- Geostorm (2016)
- Vikings (2013) ''TV series''
- Transporter: The Series (2012) ''TV series''
- Nikita (2010 - 2013) ''TV series''
- The Glades (2010) ''TV series''
- Killers (2010)
- CSI: NY (2004 - 2013) ''TV series''
- CSI: Miami (2002 - 2012) ''TV series''
- Tracker (2001 - 2002) ''TV series''
- Relic Hunter (1999 - 2002) ''TV series''
