Katherine Waddell the “Jack of all Trade” in film industry.

When you look into the sky and see how white and high it is, then you know it’s not going to rain. That’s a good weather. 

On my first glimpse of Katherine’s appearance on our zoom interview meeting, you know and feel something calm, interesting and extra ordinary is coming out of it.  

The relaxation, the smile and the searching eyes projected from her would make any journalist to want to have an interview with her, independent of the time factor. She is so adorable and understanding. 

Katherine is so humble, simple and hypnotizing right from the beginning of our interview. I believe she is also punctual and determined in getting what she wants in life. She was ready even before the agreed interview time. This isn’t the same with other actors and actresses I have interviewed before because of their tight and busy schedule. Katherine is an exception.

After our hurried introductions, everyone felt at home right from the start. As I wanted to confirm my already known information about her, I asked her to tell me who Katherine is in the entertainment industry.

She is an actress and a producer who loves to do everything her hands could get on to. In fact, I termed that “jack of all trade” and she agreed to that. She is very ambitious and adventurous. She has many stories to tell through her acting and writings, no wonder when she met award winning writer and director, Em Johnson, it was a perfect match and a dream come true for her. They both teamed up and started “First Bloom Films.”

During the Brooklyn Film Festival 2022, her movie “Balloon Animal” debuted. It was a movie filmed during the pandemic, written and directed by Em Johnson while Katherine apart from being the main actress as Poppy Valentine, produced it. This film is about a young circus performer, stuck under the harsh rules of her father and community expectations, who finds herself captivated by small-town America, forcing her to question everything.

According to Katherine, this movie is a fiction of a traveling circus family and Poppy, had to sell balloon animal while her parents entertain audience. She was rebellious all along as she had no choice to choose her own life or career. This movie got her the best actress as Poppy at Manchester International Film Festival and Kansas City Film Festival.

Even though this is a fiction for Katherine, there are so many situations like this happening in some parts of the world like for instance in Ceara, Brazil. It is so common to see traveling family circus around there and they end up becoming popular; like Brazilian Tiririca, his son, Tirullipa, others like Tom Calvocante, late Chico Anysio and so on.

To my uttermost surprise, the 29 years old Katherine could speak Portuguese language. She was able to say some phrases though with some accent. And that’s when she told me she had lived and grew up in Brazil right from 5 years old up to around 18 years old. In addition, she and her boyfriend are planning to go back there soon and she also has a project in mind to do there.

Being a jack of all trade in the film industry, there is no stopping for Katherine. She wants more and more. She worked as an actress and co-executive produced the acclaimed indie feature movie “Dinner in America” which premiered at 2020 Sundane Film Festival. 

In addition, she also executive produced Tribeca Film Festival 2021 selection IFC’s “We need to do something” a horror movie featuring Vinessa Shaw and with this experience, it has left her with much insight and knowledge about all aspects of indie-film production and film festivals.

On political point of view, Katherine considers herself a Democrat and supports climate change actions though she hasn’t done any movie related to that yet.

She has heard of India’s Bollywood movie industry and kind of surprise to hear about Nigerian Nollywood, which is world rated third after Hollywood and Bollywood. Katherine is a person who loves to discover and learn new things. She makes notes of any new important information she is given and promise to search them out. 

Lest I forget, Katherine’s first major acting role came from the role as Renee in Moving Picture Party’s Pennsylvania Holy Ghosts. Her first major producing credit came from her role as Associate Producer on Gasoline Films’ Six LA Love Stories, starring Alicia Witt and Matthew Lillard. She also served as a co-producer for the director Em Johnson’s feature film, Blush. Currently, Katherine resides in Los Angeles, where she is in development on four new projects under First Bloom Films.

On what a great movie is, she thinks of “Lords of the Rings” and “The Fall-2006.” She really liked the latter which is about a bedridden patient in a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles befriending a fellow patient, and sharing a fantastic tale of heroes, myths, and villains on a desert island with the little girl.

By Niyi Fote/TheNews2