E NT E RTA I N M E N T | F ILM/T V
LI VI N G IN TH E MO M ENT M eet K atheri n e L a N a s a
by MIMI HAYDEN
If you spend one second talking to Katherine LaNasa, it’s not hard to see how her enigmatic beauty and charm could easily convince even the most austere of hearts to yield. Quick wit, southern charm and ballet poise have given the New Orleans native and one of Hollywood’s leading ladies, a well-refined grace, but she is also human, and very relatable. “I never wanted to be an actress. It was not something that I set out to do,” she recalls. LaNasa, a classically trained ballerina, studied at the legendary North Carolina School of the Arts which led to an apprenticeship with the Milwaukee Ballet and later, danced with Salt Lake City’s Ballet West and the Karole Armtiage ballet. During a trip to Los Angeles, where her ballet company was being photographed for LIFE Magazine, she met former husband, the late, legendary actor Dennis Hopper – with whom she shares a son. Upon settling in to life with her then husband, LaNasa came across a documentary filmed by Sydney Pollock about the late and great Sanford “Sandy” Meisner. “Whatever he is doing, I want to do that. I want to be in that space and move just like him,” she said. She went on to study at The Neighborhood Playhouse under Meisner to hone her abilities. In the film, Jayne Mansfield’s Car, which is slated for a nationwide June release, LaNasa plays Donna, a small town beauty queen who has returned to her hometown in Alabama to bury her mother whom she hasn’t seen in years. During her return home we see the complexity of her character being the fun loving doe-eyed woman that also exudes a quiet loneliness. “I feel like Donna was the odd man out. Her brothers have this bond that they share from all being in the war together. She’s returning to Alabama from being in Atlanta, where she’s not a big deal, her husband’s a loud-mouth that talks all of the time. But here in this town, everyone loves her. She’s the fun party girl.“ Through her work on Jayne Mansfield’s Car, she gained a mentor and friend in Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thronton both of whom she remains really close with to date. “I’ve been lucky enough in my career to have never been ‘type cast.’ I get to enjoy playing total opposite characters like Lizze on A&E’s Longmire or Sofia on Deception.” LaNasa plays Sofia Bowers, a mad-cap matriarch on NBC’s soap-drama. From the scene when she’s confronted with her husband Robert’s infidelity you instantly know her character doesn’t lack confidence. “She has a lot of self-loathing about who she is. She loves her daughter. I hope that as time goes on they reveal the dark devilments
of her character,” she says.
Photo by JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR
When you speak to LaNasa, you get the sense of someone who has lived a remarkable life. Nuances about balance and the “ability to let go.” She believes to live in the moment and that at the end of the day everything will be all right, if you just live. As for advice to hopefuls, “Persistence is the whole game. Preparation is everything. It takes time to know yourself and your instrument. ” When asked if women could have it all? LaNasa says, “I think you can. You make decisions. I think ‘having it all’ is selfdefined. Contentment comes from within. But I do feel that women are in the position to do it.” If there is anyone who can defy the odds and make it so, it is definitely Katherine. **Ed. Note: NBC/Universal Studios decided not to renew Deception for a second season. Photo by Bell Soto
Raine Magazine - Volume 15
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