by Curlan Campbell
- Katherine’s Caribbean roots stem from both parents from Pomme Rose, St David
- Actor’s demo reel was chosen which led her travel to UK
- Actress uses her real-life experiences growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to add depth and relatability to her character
Viewers of the Netflix series ‘Sexy Beasts’ Season 2 may recall the romantic encounter Angella Katherine had on screen, but viewers may not be aware of Katherine’s Caribbean roots, particularly her connection to the island of Grenada, where both parents are from the village of Pomme Rose in St David.
Katherine is a 24-year-old Flatbush, Brooklyn-born and raised actress, model, TV/media personality and entrepreneur, and has recently returned to the island before embarking on the next chapter of her career.
In Season 2 of Netflix’s ‘Sexy Beasts’, a dating series which allows participants to wear prosthetics makeup saw Katherine dressed as a meerkat. This was the actress’s first major appearance on television after performing in minor roles in feature/short films. “It took us 4 hours to prepare. We had to wake up at 4 am to get into those prosthetics makeups every single day.”
Katherine travelled during the pandemic after submitting her resume and her actor’s demo reel was chosen to be a part of the dating series which led her travel to the UK. “After arriving there, I had to quarantine for 2 weeks by myself,” the actress said.
The actress was first inspired after she transitioned to middle school where she worked with off-Broadway actor John Douglas Thompson, who is hailed by the New York Times “as one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation” and in The New Yorker. She received her BFA in Acting from Brooklyn College’s Theatre Conservatory in May 2020 and after attending the BFA Acting programme in the Department of Theatre and Film, has now established herself as a young and upcoming actress who recently landed a supporting role in the HBO Showtime series Flatbush Misdemeanors, a raw comedy of city life following main actor Kevin Iso and Dan Perlman who play characters struggling to thrive in their new surroundings in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Katherine plays a sassy character called Amaya, a girl from Flatbush finds herself making bad decisions that will eventually lead to some wild adventures through the streets of Flatbush. Through the assistance of her agent, Katherine submitted an audition tape that landed her the role of Amaya in Flatbush Misdemeanors.
“I got this role that was perfectly aligned with myself and I am forever grateful…Flatbush Misdemeanors is basically a show that talks about people’s habits and their choices and how that can have consequences, but it also shows how one can recover from that. It’s basically about real-life situations that are translated on screen perfectly,” she said.
The actress uses her real-life experiences growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to add depth and relatability to her character. She attributes her ability to think quickly on her feet, which goes well with improvisation as a useful tool in her acting on screen.
“You pull from some of the most imaginable places and I use it for the role and ultimately it works. Now my character Amaya is not too far away from me, she is a quick thinker who has a soft side but also she can’t show it all the time because she kind of like a tomboy and so naturally she cares but may not show it or what to be seen as vulnerable except when she is with her friends,” she explained.
A constant feature of Angella’s character is her natural hair on screen, something the actress takes pride in but admits that there are challenges. “The issues surrounding wearing natural hair on screen is a big thing and sometimes some people don’t know how to do your hair, sometimes they are not gentle, and don’t know how to care for it so they just revert to what they know and that can cause tension and pain that makes you uncomfortable on set… sometimes even our body can be policed when people are telling you to wear these clothes instead because you are a little too full figured,” she said.
Katherine plans on continuing to excel in the film industry and while opting not to give too much insight into her new project, she did, however, hint at being offered a leading role in a feature film. Her dream is to also be able to be in character and portray Grenadian culture and accent on television.
Congratulations to this Grenadian beauty. I saw her in “Sexy Beast”. She has such a great personality.
P.S. Love her hair
Wonderful congratulations