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Anna Katarina

Swiss actress Anna Katarina has built a screen career around distinctive supporting characters, moving between film, television and the stage without being confined to one kind of role. Born in Bern on March 14, 1960, she came to the United States in her twenties, where she joined a circus and attended acting school—an unusual beginning that suits the variety of work that followed. Onstage, Katarina took the lead role of painter Tamara de Lempicka in Tamara, the long-running play presented in Los Angeles during the 1980s. Anjelica Huston had previously played the part, placing Katarina at the center of a demanding theatrical production built around a formidable real-life figure. Movie audiences may recognize her as the Poodle Lady in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, a small but memorable place in the film’s crowded, eccentric version of Gotham City. Her other film work includes a supporting role in the 2006 remake of The Pink Panther. On television, she appeared in the 1990 TV movie The Death of the Incredible Hulk and in “Haven,” an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Katarina later played Isabelle Jeunet across six episodes of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, giving her a recurring part in the period crime series. She also made guest appearances on both Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Taken together, these roles show the shape of a versatile working actor’s career: lead work onstage, sharply drawn film appearances, one-off television parts and a recurring dramatic role. Katarina’s credits cross genres and formats, from comic-book fantasy and science fiction to crime drama and comedy, with character work remaining the connecting thread.