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Catinca Untaru
Biography:
Catinca was born in Bucharest, Romania on 21 March 1997, the only child of Untaru family. When she was three years old, she told her grandparents that she would like to became a theatre actress waiting for people to give her flowers on a stage. From an early age, she was fascinated by fantasy stories and legends. She started to take English lessons at the age of 4 and her teacher, a former Romanian flight attendant, noticed her interest and started to tell her stories about countries and customs to keep... more
Catinca was born in Bucharest, Romania on 21 March 1997, the only child of Untaru family. When she was three years old, she told her grandparents that she would like to became a theatre actress waiting for people to give her flowers on a stage. From an early age, she was fascinated by fantasy stories and legends. She started to take English lessons at the age of 4 and her teacher, a former Romanian flight attendant, noticed her interest and started to tell her stories about countries and customs to keep her focused. Soon she was speaking English with different accents. She competed against hundreds of children from all over the world for the role of Alexandria, the main character in Tarsem Singh's The Fall. She won the role, despite almost missing her plane and not fitting the initial character description.Some might see her story a Romanian "Mission Impossible", but for Catinca it was all in a day's, or better said, in two years' work. It is said that when you are on a mission, the whole universe conspires for your success. If this is the case, then it was clearly Catinca Untaru's mission to become the first Romanian child to star in a international film. Right from the start, her discovery has consisted of a series of fortunate coincidences.At first, it was the recommendation of one of her former teachers that lead talent agent Andreea Tanasescu to her. Then, an incredible audition with the director of The Cell (2000), Tarsem Singh during which Catinca managed to switch back and forth between reality and fantasy without the slightest degree of effort. Catinca managed to convince Tarsem that she was the right child for the part of Alexandria. Finally, one day before she was scheduled to leave for South Africa and everybody thought everything was going smoothly, Catinca and her mother had to get new visas for South Africa from neighboring Hungary. People were rushed in and out of Romania in order to get the new visas but, in the end, everything turned out fine. With quite a serious face for a 10 year old, Untaru says that she enjoyed filming for "the Fall" and that her favorite part of the whole experience have been the costumes designed by Academy Award winner Eiko Ishioka. At one point, Catinca was a little jealous of her stand-in Emma Johnson's costume, a long wavy skirt; but it was soon forgotten in the thrill of the shoot. The entire script was never revealed to Catinca, as she started shooting for "the Fall" she was constantly kept on her toes about the story. She thus managed to become an active part of the action. Catinca's mother Ruxandra recalls that she would be Catinca in her hotel apartment but would immediately switch to Alexandria when she was the set.Catinca says that being a part of the cast of The Fall allowed her to see countries and learn about customs. Something she would have never been able to do had she not been a part of the Fall. As the shooting took place in more than 20 locations around the world, Catinca was most impressed with India. Upon her return in Romania, she said, "India is like a beautiful woman whose eyes you can't see." Questioned further about her statement, Catinca said, "You can only see its eyes when you get to know it better." Although quite mature for her age, Catinca still enjoys playing with her dolls and, most of all her friends. When she was filming for The Fall, her biggest wish was to come back home and be able to play with her friends whom she was missing dearly. She likes to read books, to write stories and maybe to do movies in one day. Now, almost 3 years after filming ended, Catinca goes to school and is head of class. She says that her biggest adventure, actually her self- titled "mission impossible" has been taking the grade register from the teacher's lounge to her class when her English teacher asked her to.Catinca's career is a group effort to say the least, and changes the lives of all who are involved. It is nothing short of love and passion that keep it all going! As of January 2007, she was working in a Romanian experimental media project called "10" where a group of kids are planning to do a movie. It is a mix of reality and fantasy production inspired from her story.
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