Kristanna Loken became a household name as the deadly T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but her path to Hollywood started on an apple farm in upstate New York. Kristanna joins Steve Kmetko to discuss working with Arnold Schwarzenegger, surviving the pressure of one of Hollywood's biggest franchises, coming out publicly at a time when few actors did, raising her son outside the digital world, and why she believes authenticity is more important than fame. It's a candid conversation about success, identity, family, and finding purpose beyond the spotlight. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:38 Cubs Fan Origins 01:52 Growing Up on an Apple Farm 03:30 Modeling Misconceptions 04:04 First Acting Jobs 05:21 Landing Terminator 3 07:30 Training for the T-X 08:46 Working with Arnold Schwarzenegger 09:09 Arnold's Prediction for Her Career 10:45 How Fame Changed Her Life 12:06 Coming Out as Bisexual 16:49 What Terminator Means Today 18:11 Creating the T-X Character 19:51 AI and Hollywood 22:07 Female Action Stars Then vs. Now 23:40 Hollywood's Authenticity Problem 25:51 Raising Her Son Thor 29:00 A Screen-Free Household 31:04 Sci-Fi Fans and Comic Cons 31:39 Life on Love Apple Farm 34:22 Aging, Authenticity and Growth 36:31 Lessons Learned From Failure 38:04 Advice From Ben Kingsley and Bruce Dern 41:03 Why She Never Walked Away From Acting 42:33 Why Her Best Work Is Still Ahead 46:10 Women She Admires 50:12 The Role She Wanted But Didn't Get 52:01 What Kristanna Does For Fun 54:02 Closing Thoughts
Kristanna Loken became a global star when she landed the role of the T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but her story began far from Hollywood on an apple farm in upstate New York.
In this episode of Still Here Hollywood, Kristanna joins Steve Kmetko to discuss her unforgettable experience working alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, the intense physical transformation required for Terminator 3, and how the blockbuster changed her life forever.
She also opens up about growing up with actor and model parents, her journey from modeling to acting, coming out publicly as bisexual, raising her son away from screens, her concerns about AI in Hollywood, and why authenticity matters more now than ever.
Plus, Kristanna shares behind-the-scenes stories from Terminator 3, her friendship with Robert Patrick, advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the surprising reason she still feels her best work is ahead of her.Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:38 Cubs Fan Origins
01:52 Growing Up on an Apple Farm
03:30 Modeling Misconceptions
04:04 First Acting Jobs
05:21 Landing Terminator 3
07:30 Training for the T-X
08:46 Working with Arnold Schwarzenegger
09:09 Arnold's Prediction for Her Career
10:45 How Fame Changed Her Life
12:06 Coming Out as Bisexual
16:49 What Terminator Means Today
18:11 Creating the T-X Character
19:51 AI and Hollywood
22:07 Female Action Stars Then vs. Now
23:40 Hollywood's Authenticity Problem
25:51 Raising Her Son Thor
29:00 A Screen-Free Household
31:04 Sci-Fi Fans and Comic Cons
31:39 Life on Love Apple Farm
34:22 Aging, Authenticity and Growth
36:31 Lessons Learned From Failure
38:04 Advice From Ben Kingsley and Bruce Dern
41:03 Why She Never Walked Away From Acting
42:33 Why Her Best Work Is Still Ahead
46:10 Women She Admires
50:12 The Role She Wanted But Didn't Get
52:01 What Kristanna Does For Fun
54:02 Closing Thoughts
Steve Kmetko
Yes, I'm still here. Hollywood, and coming up on today's episode, she grew up on an apple farm. She became a model at 15, and then Hollywood came calling with one of the biggest franchise films on the planet. And overnight, 10,000 women who didn't get the role learned her name. She is a warrior on screen, a producer behind the camera, and a woman who has always lived entirely on her own terms. This is Still Here, Hollywood. I'm Steve Kmetko. Join me today with my guest from Terminator Three: Rise of the Machines, actor Kristanna Loken. Hi, Kristanna.
Kristanna Loken
Hi, thanks for being here. My pleasure.
Steve Kmetko
I understand, I gotta get this cleared up right off the bat. That you're a Cubs fan,
Kristanna Loken
that is true. How did that happen? Well, my mom and dad are both from Wisconsin, and before there were the Brewers, there were the Cubs. That was their closest team. So, yes, by default I became a Cubs fan, and I had this wonderful dream when I turned 15 to take the train from upstate New York, where I grew up on a fruit farm to Chicago to see the Cubs play and to experience Wrigley Field, and we stayed with my aunt and uncle, and it was lovely. I'll never forget that trip, and it was while Harry Carey was still there, and that was very important to me. Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
I think he's the voice most closely associated with the Cubs, even though he's been gone a while now. It's
Kristanna Loken
true, yeah.
Steve Kmetko
What happened to them recently? They've been falling left and right, it's
Kristanna Loken
true. Yes, yes, they have. And my, I can hear my dad sometimes when I'm over in the other room, kind of yelling at the television, you know, for one reason or another, but
Steve Kmetko
just about all Chicagoans right now are going well. It only, it was only a matter of time.
Kristanna Loken
There was that moment, some 10 years ago, 2016 Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
yeah. Well, well,
Kristanna Loken
yeah.
Steve Kmetko
Growing up, what did you think your future looked like?
Kristanna Loken
That's a great question. Well, as I mentioned, grew up on a fruit farm in upstate New York, and my dad had been an actor. He's also a writer. My mother was a successful model in New York for nearly 20 years, until she was six months pregnant with me, still doing swimwear, and from a little tiny girl on, from about the age of three, I knew I wanted to be an actress, and it was very clear to me that that's what I was going to do, and I really never saw any deviation from that thought, so I grew up fortunately being able to do all different types of lessons that would really pay off in the end for kind of a well-rounded background in the arts, so from horseback riding to various types of dance to summer stock theater to voice lessons, any type of performing that I could get my hands on, I was really all over it. So, yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I thought my future looked like. And here we are. Is
Steve Kmetko
it true the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? You grew up on an apple farm. Your father's an actor, your mother's a model.
Kristanna Loken
They could say it's in the jeans, and yes, I've been learning recently more and more about genetics, and it does really seem to play a massive role. So, I do believe that for sure.
Steve Kmetko
What's something people assume about models that couldn't be more wrong?
Kristanna Loken
I would say that they're interested in fashion. I did do some modeling as well, and I really, I really have no interest in fashion. So, I think there's one thing, or you know, it's like you can't, you can't have beauty and brains, you know. There's plenty of lovely, smart businesswoman that I met in the modeling world that have really done quite well for themselves.
Steve Kmetko
What skill helped you most from going from modeling to actress?
Kristanna Loken
Well, I actually started acting first. My first paid job was As the World Turns. I played Meg Ryan's Speed age daughter, you know, as they do in the soap world, like they'll have a character on that's about three and then they're gone, and then they come back a year later and they're 13, voila, that was me, but Meg had just left the show, and I had, I had another actress playing my mother, but that was really the first job that I did, and then I did various other jobs in New York, and I was approached multiple times to try modeling, and my mom said, Well, why don't you do it and save up some money for college, and and I did, and got to travel the world and. Then I really, you know, said, you know, really acting is what I want to pursue,
Steve Kmetko
and it's worked out pretty well, hasn't it?
Kristanna Loken
Thankfully, so yes.
Steve Kmetko
When you were first one of the films you made, of course, and you're closely identified with his Terminator Three, when you learned you were being considered for it, what was your reaction?
Kristanna Loken
You know, it's an interesting one, because I loved Terminator Two, and I'm not an action fan, per se, but that film really, really landed with me, and it was Robert Patrick's performance that I just thought was captivating, because I didn't see any human traits, he was a machine, and when that opportunity came around, I just thought, this is it, this is the role for me. It was like tunnel vision, and you know, certain things in the past that had maybe been to my detriment worked to my advantage, like my height, deeper voice, you know. Sometimes they'd try to, you know, line me up with the other characters, and I'd be taller than the guy playing my dad, you know, when I was quite young. So I thought this, all of that other stuff is not a limitation anymore. It can, it can be advantageous. So I just went for it, and it was a series of probably eight or so auditions, a lot of them very physical, and I'll never forget when I got the job, I was on my horse riding, and Jonathan Mostow called the director, and he said, Kristana, how would you like your life to change as you know it from here on out? And I said, I'm ready, sign me up, and I won't let you down.
Steve Kmetko
You start co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course, and you mentioned height. You're taller than he is, aren't you?
Kristanna Loken
Well, I wore heels, he wore boots, so we were about the same. Oh,
Steve Kmetko
okay. I remember once my sister was visiting me, and we were in Beverly Hills, stopped at a light, and he was crossing the street, and I pointed him out to her, and she said, "That little guy, he's by no means little, right? But she was pretty big too. What was it like? Did you feel pressure stepping into a franchise that was so embraced worldwide? Was there any pressure?
Kristanna Loken
Yes. You know, I like pressure, and you know, I think having that impetus behind me really inspired me. I remember the Olympics were on that summer, and I felt like I was doing my own personal Olympics in the training itself, and the training was extensive. I did weight training, I had a nutritionist, I had, I did Krav Maga, I worked with a mime coach, LAPD, with to learn how to use the 45 so all of that, and putting on 15 pounds of muscle mass, and getting myself into the Olympic athlete shape, getting my body fat down to that percentage, really aided in building the layers of that character, of course.
Steve Kmetko
Did it make you cranky?
Kristanna Loken
It could. Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah, yeah, maybe my fuse might have been a little bit shorter. Yeah, I
Steve Kmetko
can remember on occasion when I've tried to slim down and get a certain body fat, I got down to 6% once and I was really cranky, yeah,
Kristanna Loken
yeah, yeah. The diet, the range of what you eat gets less and less, yeah.
Steve Kmetko
What was it like working with Arnold?
Kristanna Loken
He's great. I mean, he's got a larger than life persona. He's very gracious with his fans. I learned a lot by working with him in the stunt sequences, and yeah, he's a, he's a great guy, he's a great guy.
Steve Kmetko
Did he give you any advice that has stayed with you?
Kristanna Loken
It's a good question. There's one moment that really stays with me, and we were in Tokyo, and we'd had the the premiere here in LA, and then we took the Sony jet to Tokyo, because by the time we got there it was going to be the premiere in Tokyo, so we get into this stadium that was their big football, you know, soccer stadium, rock star stadium, and I really truly did feel like a rock rock star. I mean, the stadium was absolutely packed with people, even Arnold, with all that he's done, I could tell was in awe. I mean, it was, it was loud, and people were excited. It was the first Terminator film that had come out in 12 years, and Jonathan Arnold and I just had this moment on stage where we just were taking it all in, like, wow, this is this is really quite something, and as we were walking off, I remember Arnold and Jonathan kind of looking over and saying to me, like, wow, this is the start of something really great for you, Kristana, and you're going to have a career like Sharon Stone. Well, I love Sharon Stone, so I'll never forget that moment. That was a real compliment to me.
Steve Kmetko
Did it feel that way to you now, in retrospect, like your entire life changed.
Kristanna Loken
Yes, and no. I mean, I was put out there on a worldwide stage in a massive, massive way, but I don't think I've changed, you know, I've seen, I've seen people change through, through the years, certainly some, you know, going through things, let it, let it affect them, but I don't know what I would change into, you know, I was like, I'm just me, I'm Christina, who grew up on a fruit farm. I love my craft, but I've always maintained a pretty private life as well. I like doing my own thing, and so it's a balancing act of, you know, stepping into the public, but also being true to yourself, and that has also been very, very important to me. Just upholding who I am. Now, look, you're not going to please everybody, not everybody's going to be a fan, that's okay. But if I can just be authentically me and try to do my best every day, then I've done my job.
Steve Kmetko
Easier said than done.
Kristanna Loken
Very true, very true.
Steve Kmetko
As a gay man, I know how difficult it can be to be yourself sometimes, and you're so accustomed to hiding all these aspects that are that make you up or make up you who you are, and you talked openly about being bisexual.
Kristanna Loken
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
were you nervous about making that disclosure?
Kristanna Loken
Frankly, I didn't even think about
Steve Kmetko
it, really.
Kristanna Loken
Yeah, I, and it was a kind of a turning point of a time where people really weren't, in retrospect, talking about it much yet. Well, you know, it was very filtered, and so it was pride on it was like it was a non-event to me, because it was like, wow, this is part of who I am, you know. I'm going to love whom I choose. Love is love. What difference does it make? And the more of something that's taboo that we make it, the more people are, the less people are going to talk about it, and it should be normalized. And my sister is lesbian, and she's always talked openly about her sexuality, and she was like, you know, Kristana, it's, it's really a non-event, you know, and she's 16 years older than me, so she really is almost in a different generation when things are were more difficult. You could probably relate.
Steve Kmetko
My brother is gay, and he's 14 years older than I am, so it's very similar in terms of our experience, and I just know how, when he could, when he wasn't hiding, how he could offer me advice and help me along. What surprised you most about the experience of talking to you disclosed in a magazine article, didn't you?
Kristanna Loken
That's right. Are you thinking? Well, I'm thinking there could have been the advocate, could have been Curve Couple that come to.. I think Curve,
Steve Kmetko
Curve is the one I was reading about. I did The Advocate too.
Kristanna Loken
You said what something that surprised me about the response, the
Steve Kmetko
response of the reaction.
Kristanna Loken
Yeah, I think it was overwhelmingly positive, at least how I, how it landed on me. You know, that was a time to where I mean I had just gotten my first computer, it was 2005 I'm like, I'm not a techie person still to this day. It's like, if I can't feel it, touch it, taste it, hold it, or smell it, I just can't relate to it. So, you know, but what I started to read was that people were thanking me. Me, from all over the world, you know, of stories of, like, well, I, I didn't really know what I was experiencing, or how I was feeling, or what this meant, or am I supposed to look a certain way, and these are all questions that I think you know when you're coming out, or you're figuring out your sexuality, that you ask yourself, am I, and you know, and plus, then I, and then after that, then it was the L word, you know, then all of a sudden they found me, and you know, could you please be on our show, and talk to my sister Tanya, and she was filling me in because I hadn't, I hadn't seen the show, but she was a die-hard viewer, so I got all the backstory and all the characters, and yeah, and that show was a real pioneer of its kind, and queers folk as well at that time, but yeah, I think just the more that we can normalize who we are and how we are, the better it is, you know. Now the big influx, we just had mental health awareness month, right? You know, I think it's.. I think just as honest as we can be in our lives, the more joy we can find, because then the more human we truly are within ourselves and in our craft and in our work and in all the things that we do, you know, as a parent with my son Thor, who's 10, it's and now it's, it's, it, there's so much less stigma, and you just kind of lay it out there, like, well, you know, you could choose to be, you know, with a partner when you're older, and maybe that'll be a boy, maybe that'll be a girl, and he accepted that, and that was that.
Steve Kmetko
Deal with
Kristanna Loken
it, deal with it. Yeah, all the rest.
Steve Kmetko
Looking back now, we'll get back to movies now. What does Terminator Three mean to you personally?
Kristanna Loken
I think back to a time with Robert Patrick. So, Robert Patrick and I have gotten to become good friends through the years, and we did a film together called Swat Firefight, and I play his crazy, estranged ex-lover, and we sat down one time and talked about our experience as Terminators together, and we thought at that time I don't think they'd have the TV series yet, or you know, but it was like, how many people can you really have this conversation with, and how has it shaped our lives and career, and Terminator really truly is as well the gift that keeps giving, because it's an incredible franchise, and the roles are so iconic. We actually just did an Arte French documentary that's coming out, a big expose on Terminator and the franchise and everything, so it's been, it's been a wonderful, it's been a wonderful blessing.
Steve Kmetko
You have to, the character is it TX, you have to be devoid of emotions, really, but still imbue it with some kind of quality that people can latch on to. How does, how does that work?
Kristanna Loken
It's a great question, Steve. I peppered in the performance, and it was the first time, obviously, there'd been a female Terminator, I think, on the series. Subsequently, they had one, but where not only does she have these moments of femininity, but I can already see the edit in my head of those moments you're going to put in here, but also human traits like showing signs of well, eliminating those human traits, but just enough that you could relate as a person, and you want to root for her, like you might not know why, or you might not want to be rooting for her, but yet you find yourself rooting for her in some way, and I think having those human moments, like the moment of tasting the blood when she finds the gauze on the ground in the vet clinic, glancing in the mirror when she's doing the bathroom fight sequence, things of that nature that you can go, oh, maybe, maybe, maybe the machines will rise, and now here we are in the world of AI, and they have risen.
Steve Kmetko
What do you think about AI?
Kristanna Loken
Well, being kind of the technophobe. That I am.
Steve Kmetko
It's a very controversial subject in Hollywood.
Kristanna Loken
It really is. It's weird. I've started to see videos, you know, where it looks like it's supposed it's me. It's not me doing that, because I never did that. I never shot that scene, but there's something about it that's not quite me, and it looks like if I had a twin sister, maybe it would be her. So I think there's a time and a place to streamline the use of AI in certain workflows, et cetera, but in the world of the arts, it's, it's, it's a human craft, and I do stand in solidarity with, with all that we've done within the union for the protective measures against AI usage, exactly, because you can, you can tell, and the difference of what it means to be human is how we react, how we emote, how we feel, and the depth of that cannot be replaced. So, there's a part of me that I'm like, yeah, I'm not that worried.
Steve Kmetko
Back with more in a moment. If you'd like to be more involved with us at Still Here Hollywood, you definitely can. Just visit patreon.com/still Hear Hollywood. You can support us for as little as $3 a month. You can get our episodes a day before they post anywhere else. You can see what guests will be coming up and submit questions for them. You can even tell us what stars you want us to have on as guests. You'll see what goes on before and after the episode, plus exclusive behind the scenes info, pics, video, and more. Again, that's patreon.com/still Here Hollywood. Do you think audiences viewed female action stars differently in 2003 than they do today?
Kristanna Loken
Yes, I don't think there were yet as many. I mean, we had Sigourney Weaver,
Steve Kmetko
yes,
Kristanna Loken
Natasha Henstridge was around that similar time, then we came with Lara Croft and some others, Milla Jovovich, but there was this kind of upswing of female empowerment, and I remember after doing the film someone asked me, you know, well, what is it like to be, feel like to be this iconic female character, and what does it mean, and what's the responsibility? And I was like, man, I didn't think about any of that going into it. I just wanted to do the best job that I could do at that time, and just get every nuance of the character as I wanted it to be, so of course looking back there's a certain embodiment that I've of course tapped into in my own personal strength and being and essence that attracted that role to me, that I just felt this affinity towards, and so with that I now look back and see, yeah, there there is a responsibility in that, and I hope with just being true to myself that I've I've done that justice.
Steve Kmetko
Here's a question to think about, what's something Hollywood rewards that it probably shouldn't spill it.
Kristanna Loken
Well, the first thing I think of, I don't know, the first word that came to mind was fakeness, and I go the opposite of that to me would feel like authenticity, and you know, there's a lot of people in this town that are just trying to be everything that they're not, and you know, I think we should really reward those who are in it for the reasons of their craft, and really trying to uphold the artistry about that, and that to me goes back to humanity. I mean, I love to play, I love to play all types of characters, but I love to play characters too that really show the human flaws, and you know, the sides that we want to keep behind closed doors. You know that to me is exciting, and that to me is real, and that to me is something that everybody can relate to, whether it's circumstance. Financial or not, everybody can relate to things that are going on for them that they may not want the outside world to see. So, again, I go back to authenticity, and I think there's a lot, a lot of posers out there,
Steve Kmetko
people going down the red carpet, going kiss, kiss, hug, hug.
Kristanna Loken
Oh yeah, all the bs, and you know, honestly, Steve, I'm at a place in my life, personally and professionally, where if people are not upholding me the way that I want to be upheld, I just don't have time for it. I mean, I don't, I don't want to be taken advantage of, I don't want to, you know, get involved with anybody that is not there with the best intentions, because that's what I also want to put forward.
Steve Kmetko
Your son, Thor, is 10 years old, you said
Kristanna Loken
just turned 10. Yep.
Steve Kmetko
How do you relate to him? It's a
Kristanna Loken
great question, always, always, and always I relate to him, man. He's the, he's the light of my life. I feel humbled. It's emotional for me, really, being his mother, and in his presence, I have learned so much from him. I continue to learn from him. I feel like the student, he's the teacher, and there's just this beautiful vulnerability and naivety that you just want to, you just want to bottle it up, because you know that time will pass, and I think again, that's the beauty of life, right? Is experiencing this grieving process of the present moment over and over and over and over, we'll never go back to the start of this interview, right? So, there's this, this grief of like what was, what could have been, and it's, it's so touching and moving to me watching that process, and not in a morose way, but in a depth of real vulnerability of experience,
Steve Kmetko
you're Norwegian.
Kristanna Loken
Yes, I'm mainly Norwegian. Did my ancestry.com found out that I'm also a little Swedish. I mean, they are neighbors, yes, and, and German, and peppered in with just a, you know, a couple of little Eastern European places, but mainly Norwegian.
Steve Kmetko
Where did you come up with the name Thor? How did you decide to name your son Thor? It seems like a natural.
Kristanna Loken
Yes, well, my sister named me. My parents wanted a Scandinavian sounding name, so my sister Tanya made up Kristana and could have been
Steve Kmetko
Sven,
Kristanna Loken
I could have been, that's true, and what my so Jonathan, my son's father, and I were into this ancestry.com and he found out he was 24% Scandinavian, and so we thought we're going to give him a Scandinavian name, and Thor is my great grandfather's name, and we loved the mythology around it, God of Thunder and Lightning, and also, as we found out after he was born, the God of healing too, didn't know that. So, today in his swimming lesson, he had another boy named Odin. So, I thought, oh, isn't that ironic? We have now Odin and Thor together, father and son.
Steve Kmetko
Does he look at you as a movie star? Does he? How does he relate to you in that part of your life?
Kristanna Loken
Not at all, not at all. Here's something that may surprise you. We don't have TV. I couldn't
Steve Kmetko
live without TV,
Kristanna Loken
given what I do. We are, you know, I have a phone, like I said, I'm, I'm very analog, very low tech, so we're, we're really a screen-free household. I mean, of course, I've got a computer for emails, and you know, if I have to watch anything, you know, I can on my computer, but he's never seen any of my work, never. My point, not yet. No,
Steve Kmetko
by choice, by your choice, or his choice?
Kristanna Loken
No, by, by just, we don't, we're not a viewing household. I mean, it's he and I, and that's just not our culture of our home life. We read a lot, we're outdoors people, so he's seen there's pictures of me in the house, you know. Where I'm half mama, half robot, you know, and that's how he looks at it. Yes, and so he'll, he'll get there, he'll get there, I'm sure. And I tell him, you know, he knows what I do, he's been on sets with me, but you know, I say someday we can watch this, and I mean, I have done kid shows too that he could watch, but not yet.
Steve Kmetko
You've done, like, let's see if I'm remembering correctly, like 90 films,
Kristanna Loken
yeah, or television shows, right? Yeah, between TV and film, yeah,
Steve Kmetko
that's a lot to my mind.
Kristanna Loken
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it is. I mean, yeah, I started acting professionally at 13,
Steve Kmetko
and now you're
Kristanna Loken
18.
Steve Kmetko
I was wondering, where'd that go? Just thought I'd throw it out. Nothing personal,
Kristanna Loken
of course.
Steve Kmetko
Now I'm gonna get comments from people saying he wouldn't ask a man that, of course. Yes, now you're
Kristanna Loken
sexist. Yes, I get that a lot.
Steve Kmetko
Science fiction fans are incredibly passionate. Have you found that to be true? Do you do comic cons and things?
Kristanna Loken
Yeah, and you know what, I love my fans. They're absolutely amazing. I mean, I think they know my resume better than I do. I mean small little nuance projects here or there, or whatever. It's, it's really remarkable, and it's very touching. And I just feel humbled and grateful that these people have supported my career through the years. I truly do.
Steve Kmetko
Tell me about growing up on an apple farm, the it's called Love Apple,
Kristanna Loken
that's right, Love Apple Farm.
Steve Kmetko
Was it difficult leaving that kind of environment? I
Kristanna Loken
first of all, I loved the farm, I absolutely loved it, and I'm sure that helped support my outdoorsy type lifestyle, winter skiing, cross country, and downhill, and ice skating. I'm a big winter sports person too, but I had, as I like to say, I had $1 in a dream, and there was nothing standing in my way of getting out here, and so I started in New York City first, and then came out here. I had auditioned for a job in New York called Aliens in the Family by the creator of Married with Children. We shot it right over here, Radford, CBS Radford, and, and I said to me, they wanted to see me and screen test me out here, and I said, all right, if I get the job, I'm gonna stay, and I was 16 years old, and I've been here ever since, but I loved the farm, and I've always loved to have places that I could have time, apart from Los Angeles, and this business, I think it's been really important for my own headspace, and to just have a little bit of a respite. So I had South Africa, I had a home there for about a decade, and really spent a lot of time there, yep, through the years,
Steve Kmetko
that's a long move,
Kristanna Loken
it's far, I think that was part of it, give myself a little breather, I did a mini series down there and I loved it so much, I'm like, I am not leaving until I buy a house, I, and I did, I had a great little beach house there, and so, yeah, and then I ended up buying a place in upstate New York for a bit of my own to have for a while after my parents sold the farm, but yeah, there's a part of me that always likes to find the country and go back to my rural roots.
Steve Kmetko
What's your favorite apple
Kristanna Loken
lately? I've been into the Cosmic Crisp. I just had one, actually, really, which is not a variety that we had on the farm. It's a new hybrid, but when I was growing up on the farm, I would say Golden Delicious. We had 26 varieties.
Steve Kmetko
Oh, I like Fuji and Gala. They're
Kristanna Loken
great. Yep, yep, galas are also great.
Steve Kmetko
Yeah, slice it up and put it in a salad. What's.. what's.. tell me something. Personal growth, something you become less concerned about as you've gotten older.
Kristanna Loken
My hair, yep, as if you're going personal growth in depth, or you said less concerned about,
Steve Kmetko
well, I'm kind of shallow, but yeah, if you want to go deep, go deep.
Kristanna Loken
I have my natural hair color for the first time since I was 18 years old, and I was like, you know what, why am I dying my hair? I'm just gonna let it go natural. So I think embracing, you know, getting older. Sure, and being more comfortable in your own skin feels really great, and that I've done a lot of personal growth work, all different types, was big into meditation for many, many, many years, getting back into that now, so yeah, less concerned again, I think it goes back to that authenticity piece of just really embodying yourself more, so it becomes for me, anyway, less external and more internal, and embracing that.
Steve Kmetko
Well, you're only 18,
Kristanna Loken
that's true.
Steve Kmetko
What's something you become more protective of
Kristanna Loken
more protective of first thing I think of is is my son and my time with him, my time I've become more protective of, and that goes back to the pieces with, you know, just feeling obligated in a life where people are always wanting this, this, this, this, more and more and more and more, and you go, no, I don't. I can pick and choose how I want to spend my time, and with the people that I want to spend it with, and I don't have to just give and give and give and give. So it's
Steve Kmetko
okay to take every once in a while.
Kristanna Loken
Yes, exactly. I got to remind myself that,
Steve Kmetko
and we'll be right back. What's a lesson you learned the hard way?
Kristanna Loken
Well, I had a feeler of failure growing up, and I think trial and error and failure is a valuable part of success, and also personal growth, and that reflection, and looking at your life, and going, well, that didn't work, all right, let me, let me try something else, and whether that's personally or professionally, or both, you know, God willing, we have a wonderful opportunity to have a long, full life. So it's really embracing all the moments and not condemning yourself for those that didn't work, but just reflecting upon them.
Steve Kmetko
If you could tell your younger self one thing before entering Hollywood, what would it be?
Kristanna Loken
I think it, I think it would be what I've just finally learned now, whereas not feeling obligated to give a piece of yourself to everybody, to you know, to give, give, give of your time to save that time, and I think probably my younger self was going well, that Kristana, that's why you know, maybe you, you have a house in different places, so that you can take that reflective time for yourself, but to really understand the nuance of that a little bit better,
Steve Kmetko
of all the people you've worked with, who did you learn the most from?
Kristanna Loken
Couple come to mind, and they're both Academy, well, one's an Academy Award winner, and one's an Academy Award two-time nominee, and that would be Sir Ben Kingsley and Bruce Stern, and what have I learned from them? Yes, well, Bruce Stern played my father, and this was a very special movie on a film called Fighting for Freedom that my dad wrote that we shot on my parents' farm, and it's inspired by true events about a Mexican migrant family that lives and works on my parents' farm, and Bruce is a wonderful man. He's very funny, very quick, and he said to me, Kristana, your best years are yet to come, and he said, because when people can start looking at you on a deeper level, they'll really be able to see your ability. I'm paraphrasing a bit, but it was something along those lines, and that really landed with me, and I do think you know growing through the industry and the roles you know that you play from from 13 to now, of course, are vastly different, and also a quote from Dear Julian Sands, sadly no longer with us, who I also worked with on that mini series in Cape Town, you know, you know, said that when you get into a different stage of your life, you know, the roles start to become more interesting, and it's very true, you're playing, you know, as I accumulate life experience, those roles, of course, are richer and fuller and deeper as well. So I digress a little bit there, but Sir Ben Gandhi himself, Gandhi himself, yes indeed, also played my father in Blood Rain, and wonderful, wonderful man to work with, fun, pointed, succinct, and specific in his work, and it was just.. it was great to watch him work, and to work with him. And another thing that Bruce said, just to encapsulate this, was he said, you know, Kristana, you're a wonderful dance partner, and he said, I think acting is like a dance, it's like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, you know, where you're just flowing with one another. And so I really, I really took that to heart,
Steve Kmetko
and she did everything backwards, and in heels, exactly.
Kristanna Loken
Yes, TJ,
Steve Kmetko
what's something you almost walked away from too soon.
Kristanna Loken
Well, there are times that this business can get very frustrating, you know. You get tired of the people, the bullshitters. Can I say that?
Steve Kmetko
Yes,
Kristanna Loken
you know, just the fakeness of it all, and you know, and sometimes I'm just like, ah, man, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna do something else, but then I think about it for probably about five minutes, and I go, well, what else would I do? There's really nothing else that I want to do, so it keeps me coming back, but there are sometimes I'm being a little dramatic there, it's longer than five minutes, and I'll take a, you know, I'll go away for a bit and do some reflection, meditating, et cetera, and each time I come back I see a deeper reason in myself as to why acting is important to me. Why this business is important to me. And now it's almost like I'm a horse with blinders on, where, where I'm not even.. I'm, I'm just.. I don't have time for the bullshit anymore. That bullshit is just sliding right off. This is so.. yeah, I'm just sifting right through it, and that's something that I, I really appreciate with, with time in this business, and with coming back every time.
Steve Kmetko
Put those blinders back on for just a second, and tell me, what do you see down the road for you?
Kristanna Loken
Well, I think, like Bruce, I really see that the best is yet to come. I really feel like there's a wave of depth of work in my future where people are going to see a different side of me, people are going to see another side of rawness and life experience in me and I have there's a couple of projects, and but that's that's future, but there's a couple of projects now that have just one has just come out, it's called Dark Reckoning, and this is this is my survival film, and this film my character Alex is stuck. She gets into an accident. She's stuck under a truck, and she really looks at has she done what she's needed to in this lifetime in order to move on into the afterlife, or does she still have more work yet to do? So it's very metaphoric. and there's some wonderful flashbacks and hallucinations, and Martin Cove plays my dad, and it's, it's really a quest of her own personal internal survival, but will she make it out physically or not alive, so that's Dark Reckoning streaming on various platforms now, and there's another film very near and dear to my heart that also just came out recently, called Vice and Virtue. This is a film that my company, True Entertainment, produced. I'm also in and vice and virtue. They take human forms, they come down to planet Earth, and they invoke this Judgment Day on about half a dozen people that find themselves in an undisclosed location over the course of this one evening through the unraveling and finding the truth out about their lives, we find out why they're there and why they're facing these very grim life or death circumstances. So, the important thing about this film is that I got to work in some of the backstory of the difficulties of the beginning of life. That my son had, so it was a very cathartic film for me. So not only am I bringing these up for shameless plug, but I'm also bringing them up because there's a, there's a depth of emotional life in both of these characters that I enjoy playing, and I have throughout my career. I mean, I think of Painkiller Jane sci-fi series I did as well, and others, but going forward, I would love to embody more real human flawed characters that people can relate to, and that hopefully they can experience in such a way that sheds light on things they might be going through, and help give them a direction, if you will. After watching, and with Vice and Virtue, I do hope when people watch this film that they will look at their own choices a little bit more clearly, because it is a film about choices, how we're choosing something all day, every day, and that collection of choices really makes up and shapes and creates who we are.
Steve Kmetko
Are there women that you've looked up to?
Kristanna Loken
Definitely, my mother, for one, her tenacity in the business, and just putting herself out there, never wavering, having a wonderful career, and her motto was always, she always said to me, Kristina, whatever they ask you to do in the room, of course, within reason, but like, if you can sing, if you can dance, if you, you know, all these things, she goes, even if you don't really know how to do it, she goes, just say you can do it, because then once they hire you, they're stuck with you for the job. So that was my mom's mentality, you know, and her motto, and it really got her far, and I mean, what she did in the 60s and 70s in her career was really quite brave, like I think of one sure deodorant commercial she shot with a lion, I mean, right up there hugging the lion right in there, I mean she just got in there and thought about things later, and you know that can go either direction, but I have that quality myself, so my mother, for one, and Helen Mirren, I am a huge fan of Helen Mirren. I just think she's had an incredible career, and one who's really, again, also started to really blossom, like in her 40s, 50s with Prime Suspect, I believe it was on BBC. I love that series. Yeah, I
Steve Kmetko
did too.
Kristanna Loken
Yeah, and you know, just raw grit, embracing who she is, not apologetic in a very upholding kind of way, and just had a real kaleidoscope of characters that she's portrayed. So,
Steve Kmetko
Queen Elizabeth, for one,
Kristanna Loken
my gosh, yeah, I mean, that was the year she won, like she won everything, the Oscars, the cat, the Golden Globes, and the Emmy, so yeah, Helen, Helen Mirren, I'm just a big fan,
Steve Kmetko
have you ever met her?
Kristanna Loken
No, but I was in South Africa shooting a film, another film, and I heard that she was staying at the same place that I was, and I believe it was my husband at the time who even said, "Oh, I just saw Helen Mirren in the in the lobby, and I was like, "What? I got really excited, one of the few people I was actually like almost a little bit nervous to meet, so.. but I didn't get to meet her. I missed her, unfortunately. One day, hopefully, I could work with her. That would be great.
Steve Kmetko
We'll be right back. What do people misunderstand about beauty and success? Do they go hand in hand
Kristanna Loken
again? I feel like they think there's this kind of limit, like, oh, well, she's beautiful, so that's it, you know? Like, there can't be this more than, like, wow, she's really talented, and she's really gifted. It's like they only want to be able to see one thing, like, she couldn't possibly have it both, and you know what I love about Helen Mirren, and there's this one great interview that she did, and she, she used to get really nervous, even in the interview, she's holding a feather, and she goes, I hold this feather, because then I can see how much it's shaking, you know how my level of nerves are, yeah, but it was like she paved the way in a time in the 70s and before of like where people thought, oh, she's this beautiful young, you know, ingenue, like she can't have all of this talent, and she was always very strong in her conviction and her voice about like well. I'm gonna just do my craft and be the best that I can be, and well, she's proven those naysayers wrong. So I think that's abyss, a big misconception.
Steve Kmetko
Was there ever a role you desperately wanted but didn't get?
Kristanna Loken
There was one that I, after I think it was right after Terminator, that there were there were a couple kind of floating around, but I think it was the Fantastic Four seem to recall that that would have been a really good job to have, that's that's the one that really stands out, but there were a couple that I'm like, ah, that would have been really nice, but the one that I haven't done yet that I would really like to do is I've never played in a, in a biopic before, biopic, biopic, biopic, yeah,
Steve Kmetko
that's what some people say, biopic, biopic,
Kristanna Loken
biopic, yeah, so I would love to portray someone you know, living or deceased, and really, again, I guess it goes back to my enjoyment of, I do have a little bit of a perfectionistic thing, you know, like with, with TX, you know, there's something in the precision and in the, in the preciseness about that specificity in playing a living person that really intrigues me. I think of my acting coach, Larry Moss, who said, you know, what would someone need to know in order to play you, and if you just let that land, you think about all the specific things that you do throughout the day that create and shape who you are and how you are, you know, in this up until this moment, and again, I think that goes back to my interest of vice and virtue and a film about choices, because it's all the specificity of the choices that we make. So that's on my list.
Steve Kmetko
What do you do for fun?
Kristanna Loken
Well, I do like my sports. So, as I mentioned, I'm a big winter. I love winter. I love snow. I love
Steve Kmetko
that's the Norwegian,
Kristanna Loken
that is the Norwegian blood. It's in the jeans, literally. So, I like my winter sports, you know, downhill, cross country, snowshoeing, ice skating, horseback riding, open ocean swimming. I love, I love open water swims. Done some triathlons. I'm trying to think what other triathlons, just some little ones, you know. You know, they do the peer to peer swim. I've done that here from it's a two mile swim from Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach, and I love to, I like to roller skate. It took Thor roller skating yesterday, so we enjoy that lot of physical things for fun. Love hiking, I love to travel. Yeah, love the ocean, love exploring, and I love to read. I read a lot. I have stacks of books on my bedside, so whatever mood I'm in for that evening could even be two in one night. So that's what I like to do, and I love to spice love spending time with my family. I mean, I guess I think in my mind that's a given, but I spend a lot of time with, with my parents and my son, and it's good that you have that rock
Steve Kmetko
to hold on to.
Kristanna Loken
It sure is. It sure is. They're, they're a real inspiration. I mean, my dad, 94 writing, you know, incredible, still writing incredible screenplays, novels, plays. We just did a staged reading of one of his plays, beautiful swan song, Bruce Davison, another Academy Award nominee, read the title role, and so, yeah, yeah, they've been great.
Steve Kmetko
Thanks, Crystana. I've really enjoyed this.
Kristanna Loken
Thank you, Bruce Davis.
Steve Kmetko
Davison was in the longtime companion, what I think he got an Oscar nomination.
Kristanna Loken
Yeah,
Steve Kmetko
such a good movie, and one of the first to deal with AIDS. That's right, that's right. Excellent, thank you.
Kristanna Loken
My pleasure. Thank you.
Steve Kmetko
Still here, Hollywood is a production of the Still Here Network, all things technical, run by Justin Zangerley, theme music by Brian Sannashin, and executive producer is Jim Lichttstein.