Rare is the person who pursues their childhood dreams of landing on the moon or chasing fires. Katherine Castro, a Dominican actress and film producer, is one of those rarities. Castro showed early signs of what she was destined to accomplish as a toddler who regularly danced, sang and acted for her family. Today, Castro’s completed her eleventh film, the action-thriller American Violence, which was recently released through video-on-demand.
Castro was born into a military family in the Dominican Republic and moved to the U.S. at just five years old. While there her parents noticed she had problems with balance and coordination. After seeing a doctor her path to the stage was made official. “The doctor’s prescription was to put me in dance classes,” she recalled.
After seeing Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain she “knew that I wanted to perform some-how,” Castro said. “I was like, ‘You’re telling me that you can dance and sing and do that in a movie? Whoa! This is what I want to do for the rest of my life!’”
After her family returned to the Dominican Republic Castro continued studying dance and took up music lessons as well. As a teen she appeared in several TV commercials and even hosted a daily variety show. Despite this success she lost her passion for entertaining and went on to college, received a BA in journalism and planned a political career. That is until her five-year-old entertainer within came calling. “I started hearing, ‘Did you forget that you said that you wanted to go to Hollywood and be an actress?’” she recalled.
She returned to the States and took summer classes at the New York Film Academy which was ironically in Los Angeles. A few short months there were enough to convince Castro to relocate permanently and pursue acting full time.
While waiting for her residency to be approved, Castro worked with acting coach Aaron Speiser who’s trained the likes of Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez. It was Speiser who helped Castro produce an audition tape for the director of American Violence.
Landing the role of Isabella, the estranged daughter of a Mexican cartel boss that is warring with a Russian mob family, she immediately related. “American Violence shows us that regardless of our cultural differences we all seek the same things: love and connection,” she said. The film became more than a role. Castro signed on to be its’ executive producer—something she’s done before and that she advises every up-and-coming actor to do at least once. “I [did it] because I think all actors intrinsically are producers,” she explained. “When you’re in a project you want [it] to be seen.” It’s the reason why Castro has produced other projects as well as her own, mostly short films that have allowed her to showcase various sides.
Although Castro has been involved in different aspects of entertainment from television to business, she understands what’s needed to keep her fire from being extinguished once more. “If you really want to be an actor, you have to be passionate about it,” she say. “You have to eat being an actor, dream about it, live it and breathe it!”