Check out our interview with very creative, talented and artistic Kathrine Barnes who can be seen in BET+ series, AVERAGE JOE which stars not only Kathrine, but leading man, Deon Cole, Tammy Townsend, Cynthia McWilliams, Malcolm Barrett and many others. Kathrine plays the recurring role of “Arina” (nicknamed “The Chameleon”), a former KGB assassin and enforcer for the Russian mob who is dragged out of retirement and back into Nicolai Dzhugashvili’s world.
Average Joe, set in The Hill district of Pittsburgh and inspired by showrunner Robb Cullen’s life, follows a blue collar plumber, Joe Washington (Deon Cole), who discovers his recently deceased father lived a secret, second life and stole millions of dollars from dangerous people just before he died.
You might recognize her from TV shows like “Queer As Folk” and “Candy”, as well as the films The Glorias (Sundance selection), Moonshot, and the upcoming Faceless After Dark and Walden. As a Co-founder & Producing Partner at Vernal & Sere Theatre, she recently partnered with the Luis Buñuel Film Institute to mount the world-premiere stage adaptation of Buñuel’s 1962 surrealist masterpiece, The Exterminating Angel, in which she played Silvia, the Duchess of Avila.
Follow Kathrine @kathrinebarnes
Tell us about yourself:
I’m an actor, I use she/her pronouns, I was born and raised in Rhode Island, and I have hundreds of favorite things & people so any number of these answers could change if we just give it 30 minutes.
Describe yourself in 3 words?
Relentless, hypermobile, Italian.
How would your friends describe you?
Collectively they have landed on “brilliant powerful troll” and “loyal iceberg mother” (I do not have children).
How did you get started into acting?
I did my first play when I was 9 or 10 (playing Clara Barton in an original elementary school biopic). That, combined with seeing My Cousin Vinny when I was way too young and seeing Idina Menzel in Wicked when I was way too impressionable, it was all over for me.
Tell us about your work as Arina (“The Chameleon”) in the much-anticipated BET+ series, “Average Joe.”
I’m obsessed with Arina. She’s a former KGB assassin who was so uniquely skilled that she was recruited into Nicolai Dzhugashvili’s crime family when she was young and acted as his right-hand man before a tragedy caused her to leave that world behind. I’m not a native Russian speaker and have never killed anyone, so a lot of my work involved learning and exercising enough of those skills to bring her to life. It’s the most demanding screen role I’ve had to date and I loved every second of it.
How has this show changed your life?
I learned what it feels like to wake up every day and just be overjoyed to go to work. That felt pretty life-changing.
Can you name 3 actors/actresses you would love to work with?
Today it’s Suranne Jones, Sally Field, and Brian Cox.
What other projects you have been part of?
My first professional film job was playing a Rockette in The Glorias, and since then, I’ve done a handful of roles in projects like Chris Winterbauer’s Moonshot, the Adult Swim Yule Log, the “Queer as Folk” reboot, and “Candy” on Hulu (as Jessica Biel’s mom). Offscreen, I’ve done theatre since I was a kid, and I’ve been running an experimental, ensemble-based theatre company with my co-founders for the last 7 years. I’m on a hiatus right now, but from 2016-2021, I was playing some of the most unhinged roles you could imagine. I think only 3 of the 7 were humans. Maybe 4.
If you weren’t acting, what would you be up to right now?
Probably running some sort of home construction & woodworking business. Or building robots. Or something where I’d either verbally or physically fight a fair amount of the time.
What’s next for Kathrine Barnes in 2023?
I’m going to be the Maid of Honor at my baby sister’s wedding in August, then I’m headed to Australia a few days after the “Average Joe” finale airs, and I’ll be back just in time to open a play my theatre company is producing this fall.
What’s your favorite travel destination?
Venice and London.
Favorite sports team?
The Savannah Bananas.
Favorite healthy food?
Cannoli.
And your favorite cheat food?
The paper on the bottom of the cupcake.
Favorite song? Why?
These days, it’s “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen and it will be even more confusing if I explain myself.
Do you support any charity?
Yes: right now I’m particularly invested in the ACLU’s Drag Defense Fund, the ActBlue Charities Abortion Access Fund, and, in honor of my little buddy Hugo Hill Kolojejchick-Kotch, the organization his extraordinary mom now volunteers with: PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy.
What do you think of Social Media?
Delighted when it catalyzes connection & democracy. Wary of it when it enables low-effort dopamine & insane billionaires.
Where can we follow you?
You can usually find me running around a theatre somewhere in the United States; just look for a flash of prematurely grey hair and long limbs moving in an unfathomable manner, probably.
Photo Credit: TJ Baker @tjbakerstudio
