Katrina Cunningham (born November 12, 1989) is an American actor, model, dancer and musician. They performed in ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' (2016), Cirque Du Soleil'''s Paramour'', and NYC's '' Sleep No More''. Cunning appeared in the recurring role of Christina Fuego in the later two seasons of '' The Deuce'' on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

starring

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

and

Maggie Gyllenhaal Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal ( , ; born November 16, 1977) is an American actress and filmmaker. Part of the Gyllenhaal family, she is the daughter of filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs, and the older sister of actor Jake Gylle ...

. More recently, Cunning starred as the mysterious chanteuse Sabine in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Trinkets'' based on the books by Kirsten Smith. They play

blackfishing Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity in a manner perceived as inappropriate or unacknowledged. Such a controversy typically arises when members of ...

white rapper Reina Reign in

Issa Rae Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), known professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer. She achieved recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO comedy series '' Insecure'' (2016–2021), for ...

Rap Sh!t ''Rap Shit'' (stylized as ''Rap Sh!t'') is an American comedy television series created by Issa Rae for HBO Max. The show is produced by Hoorae Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment and centers on two Miami-based rappers (portrayed by Aida Osma ...

Early life and education

Cunning was born in

Gresham, Oregon Gresham ( ) is a city in the Willamette Valley, Located in Multnomah County in the U.S. state of Oregon, bordered by Portland to the northwest and partially in the southwest. It was first settled in the early 1850s by the Powell brothers. It ...

and began dancing at the age of three. They are of Greek descent, and the middle of three children with two brothers. They graduated a year early from Centennial High School in 2007 in order to start their career in dance sooner. Cunning received a BFA in Dance from

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

Career

Cunning began their career by performing in ''Baroque-Burlesque Operas'' with Company XIV. Following their 2016

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

debut, they performed in Refinery 29's sold out ''29 Rooms'' and opened for the sold out North American Tour for LP. Their singles "Baby" "Wild Poppies" and "Stay on the Line" have received praise for their overt displays of queer sexuality. Cunning appears as Christina Fuego in The Deuce on

. Cunning plays Sabine in the Netflix show '' Trinkets'', and their original songs "Birds" and "King of Shadow" are featured on the show. For the 2019

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

adaptation of

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...

Looking For Alaska ''Looking for Alaska'' is a 2005 Young adult literature, young adult novel by American author John Green. Based on his time at the private Indian Springs School, Green wrote the novel in order to create meaningful young adult fiction. While he d ...

, Cunning covered

Alexi Murdoch Alexi Murdoch (born 27 December 1973) is an English folk musician and songwriter.Elms, Robert (22 April 2011), "BBC London 94.9". Since his debut in 2002, Murdoch has released two LPs and one EP. His music has been featured in numerous televisi ...

's song " Orange Sky". Their single "For The Love" has been called a "rallying cry for hope and strength in the face of adversity" by

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

. On August 20, 2020, Cunning officially signed with

Lava Records Lava Records is an American record label owned by Jason Flom, in partnership with Universal Music Group. Company history In 1995, Flom launched Lava Records in partnership with Atlantic Records. For the next decade, he continued to discover an ...

Personal life

Residing in Los Angeles, Cunning is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

, using

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

pronouns.

Awards

* Best Actor. ''Nothing Serious.'' 2016 Trail Dance Film Festival * Best Supporting Actor. ''Pepper and the Salt Sea.'' 2016 Damn! Series''''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunning, Kat 1989 births Actors from New York (state) Actors from Oregon American non-binary actors American non-binary musicians American non-binary artists Singer-songwriters from Oregon American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters American LGBTQ dancers American LGBTQ models American queer actors Queer singer-songwriters Queer models Queer dancers Queer feminists American dancers Living people LGBTQ people from Oregon American feminist musicians Cirque du Soleil performers Non-binary singers Non-binary songwriters Non-binary models Non-binary dancers State University of New York at Purchase alumni