PT 2: KATRINA RISTESKA — MILENA IN GIA: A WOG CHICK COMEDY, MOTHERHOOD, AND MAKING IT AS A STAR
Part two of our Gia special brings us face to face with Katrina Risteska, the actress bringing Milena Petrovski to chaotic, big hearted life. Katrina's been on our screens for over fifteen years, starting in musical theatre at seven years old in shows like Annie, The Wizard of Oz and Oliver at Sydney's Lyric Theatre, performing alongside names like Bert Newton, Anthony Warlow and Pamela Rabe. At eighteen she became the youngest ever competitor on So You Think You Can Dance Australia, placing in the top 3 females as the last commercial/hip hop dancer standing, and went on to dance for Kylie Minogue, Olivia Newton-John, Kelly Clarkson and Jimmy Barnes.
She moved into film at sixteen with her first lead role in The Combination, and has since built a career across Home and Away, Dance Academy, Skinford: Death Sentence, Chasing Comets, and the Netflix hit Occupation Rainfall, starring alongside Ken Jeong, Temuera Morrison, Daniel Gillies and Jason Isaacs, a film big enough to land her on billboards along Sunset and Wilshire Boulevard. After five years focused fully on acting, she's recently stepped back into music, releasing new material under her own name, including her single "Bad Way." And somewhere in between all of that, she became a mum to a gorgeous four year old daughter.
We go back to little Katrina first, then into her career as a dancer, singer and actor, what drew her to Milena, what it actually feels like to play a woman as bold and loud as her, how motherhood has changed her ambitions, and what's next.
We talk about:
- little Katrina, growing up, and when performing took over
- her SYTYCD run, dancing for some of the biggest names in music, and her comeback to music under her own name
- her acting range, from Anna in The Combination to Chloe in Occupation to Suarez in Occupation Rainfall
- what drew her to Milena, and how she plays a character that big without turning her into a punchline
- what it actually feels like to play someone as bold and loud as Milena, and how the world tends to perceive women like her in real life
- how becoming a mum has changed or altered her ambitions, what she's chasing harder and what she's let go of
- the chaos of filming the Feet to Eat scene with the cherries
- what's next for her, beyond Gia
- a quickfire round on dance, acting, singing, tulumbi, and everything in between
This one's for anyone who's ever had a best friend who talks you into something you immediately regret, and loved them anyway.
Gia: A Wog Chick Comedy — official links
- Website: https://www.giaseries.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/giatheseries
- Facebook: facebook.com/giatheseries
- Donate / support the project: https://buy.stripe.com/aFabJ3cyvdbM8D1fuW7kc02
- General contact: [email protected]
Follow Katrina
- Instagram: instagram.com/katristeska
- Facebook: facebook.com/kat.risteska
A huge thank you to Meraki Entertainment for supporting both episodes of this two-part special. Meraki: https://merakientertainment.com.au
If you enjoyed this episode, please give us five stars and rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it genuinely helps the show reach more people.
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- Instagram: instagram.com/balkansispodcast
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