Home » Interviews » Kristanna Loken: From Farm Girl to Actress-Producer

Kristanna Loken: From Farm Girl to Actress-Producer

Introduction to Kristanna Loken.  1:11 min. Interview: Raymond Elman. Post-Production: Nicole Garay. Recorded via Zoom: 3/3/2021, Miami.

Best known as the Terminatrix in the highly successful Warner Bros. franchise film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, KRISTANNA LOKEN has starred in numerous cult favorites including Painkiller Jane, The L Word, and the Sy-Fy mini-series, Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King. Loken has worked with Hollywood greats including Academy Award Winner Sir Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Claire Danes, David Spade, Burt Reynolds, Robert Patrick, Max Von Sydow, Jason Statham, Ron Pearlman, and James Brolin to name a few. Loken has starred in over 20 feature films, and over 20 TV series and TV event projects in a range of genres.

In 2013 Kristanna started Loken Mann Productions. Later that year they released their first feature Fighting for Freedom, where she costarred alongside two time Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern. This film, inspired by true events, follows the story of a young undocumented immigrant who fights for her rights to stay in the U.S. with her family.

Loken produced the dramatic independent feature, Lime Salted Love, a surreal examination of abandonment, guilt, abuse, and psychic pain set in the hipster enclaves of Los Angeles. She also executive produced the Sy-Fy Channel series superhero actioner Painkiller Jane, which is based on the eponymous comic book. Loken co-produced and starred in Attack on Darfur, an independent film that shot on location in Cape Town, South Africa. The film is based on true events about the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

— Trio Entertainment

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

INSIGHT AND INSPIRATION:   1:17 min.

Where did you grow up and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:  1:01 min.

Your mother was a successful model and your father was an actor and writer, yet they moved to an organic farm in upstate New York. Why?

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:  0:57 sec.

In the late 1960s I read the books “Living the Good Life” and “Growing Your Own,” and thought about moving to the country from Manhattan and starting a subsistence farm. I bet your parents read the same books.

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES:  1:39 min.

So you grew up doing farm chores?

DEVELOP A VOICE:  0:32 sec.

Was your first professional TV experience on the job training for you?

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 0:48 sec.

Were you able to go to school while you were acting professionally?

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY:   1:01 min.

Did you have time to be an athlete or play organized sports?

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:  1:11 min.

Dancer Robert Battle had the opposite experience from you. He had braces on his legs as a young boy, and took martial arts classes to strengthen his legs — which ultimately led him to dance.

SELF-CONFIDENCE:  5:01 min.

Talk about the evolution of your career.

COLLABORATION:  1:08 min.

What year did you produce and star in “Fighting for Freedom,” co-starring Bruce Dern?

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  1:28 min.

What was it like to work with Bruce Dern? How did he differ from your expectations?

EMPATHY:  0:44 sec.

As the screenwriter and a real-life farmer, was your father projecting himself into the role that Bruce Dern played?

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:  1:24 min.

Having Bruce Dern play my father would certainly qualify as one of the highlights of my life.

SELF-CONFIDENCE:  1:16 min.

What gave you the confidence to step into a producer’s role at the age of 26?

SELF-CONFIDENCE:  1:10 min.

As a young actress, were you paying attention to what the producers were doing so you could step into that role when the opportunity arose?

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:  2:24 min.

You are very articulate, sophisticated, and poised; yet I’m assuming you didn’t go to college because you started a successful career at such a young age.

COLLABORATION:  0:56 sec.