Photo: Cameron Krone
After touring with 50 Cent, appearing in Righteous Kill and posing for brands such as Diesel and BCBG, Katie Chonacas (Flash, Dec/Jan ’09) develops a taste for vice in Streets of Blood and Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Here the actress, model, singer, poet, producer and cross-country champ talks about growing up in Detroit, performing onstage with Fiddy and dressing up like a crack-whore.
GIANT: You grew up in Detroit, right?
7 Mile.
What do you remember most?
Raw. Completely raw, in your face, edgy, badass, the number-one murder capital of the world. Don’t mess with the D.
Was it scary growing up there?
No, it’s not scary at all. I grew up in the suburbs, which is like thirty minutes away. But as a youngster, the rebellious girl that I was, that I am, I would always go there. You go to Detroit just to hang out, just chill. I guess I got very lucky, too, because bad things could have happened, but I spent some time in Detroit on the real.
How did your upbringing influence who you are today?
I came from a very loving establishment. My parents are still together, but everything wasn’t handed to me left and right. But I had a taste of the good life as well. I was able to see all aspects of it. Anything that I desired or saw or wanted, it gave me the hunger to go out and get it, to take what’s mine, to go out there and create.
I read that Katie isn’t your birth name.
Kyriaki.
Does that mean anything?
We’re Greek. I was named after my grandmother. She’s my favorite person in the world. In the Greek tradition, we have saints and goddesses. She was named after Saint Kyriaki, who was a martyr. She died for her sins.
That’s heavy.
Yeah. She’s a soldier, and she stands alone. She’s has a quiet, strong sense about her, a power, yet she doesn’t have to speak a word.
What are the big movies you have coming out?
One of the big films that I’m most proud of recently is with Nicholas Cage. It’s called Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. It’s by Werner Herzog. He’s one of the best filmmakers. They say he’s like in the top thirty best filmmakers in the world. When I found out I was going to work with him, I was Googling him and saw all his movies. I found his Web site, and I bought the whole six-disc box set. I watched all of his films. I watched the first film he ever made. It was a thirteen-minute short, all black and white. I watched it in Detroit with my family. They didn’t have to read the subtitles because it was in Greek, and they know Greek.
Who is your character in the film?
I play this socialite girl, a young teenager. I’m involved with the wrong crowd. My character is involved with crack/cocaine. She has an encounter with Nicholas Cage, and he finds the drugs on me, and things start happening.
What else do you have coming out?
I recently worked on Streets of Blood with Sharon Stone and Val Kilmer and Curtis [50 Cent]. I can be all glammed up, but then in that movie, I’ll have track marks going up my arm, bruises on my knees. I’m all bloody. I’m like this crack-whore, all strung-out. I’m an 18-year-old girl, all strung-out on drugs. My hair’s all gnarly. I look sickly ill. And I love it. It’s gritty and deep.
You’ve worked with big stars. Do you ever get star-struck?
No. However, I was performing in front of thirteen thousand people in Europe. I went on tour with 50 and the G-Unit camp. I was all over the place. I was doing it in fast-forward mode just because of all the nerves. With acting, I’ve been in so many rooms with so many directors and producers before actually getting to a set, it’s like an after-thought. You do it over and over. But when you go onstage in front of thirteen thousand people for the first time, there’s no test run. There’s no rehearsal. You go out there and do it.
Can you talk about the album you’re working on?
It’s urban, edgy, aggressive, sexy. The beats are sick. They’re produced like Britney and Madonna. I love Scott Storch. God, I’d love to work with Scott and Timbaland. He’s amazing.
Do you have a title for it yet?
It’s going to be titled after the lead single, which is “So N 2 U.”
You write poetry as well. Does your songwriting stem from that?
It intertwines. When I made my first single, I brought all my poems, and I would read ‘em to the producer so he could get insight of who I was, and then we just collaborated and right then and there came up with an idea. But the new stuff I’m working on is going to be directly from my spoken word. I’m actually making two albums. I’m doing the music album, but I’m also working on a spoken-word album. It’s going to be electronic beats, and I’ll do spoken word.
I read that you also run cross country. Is that right?
I don’t run like I used to. In LA there’s so many cars, and it’s so much to go running. I’ve actually been turned on to tennis. For the last nine weeks, I’ve been with a pro. He says I have natural footwork for an athlete and that I’m quick, so I’ve been able to tone up my body and stay active through tennis. It’s fun because you can do it as a social thing with friends.
How fast were you?
I was the fastest runner in the state [of Michigan], sixth in the nation.
What do you like about running?
It makes me connect with my dad. He was a cross-country runner, and he turned me on to it. He was my coach for running, but he was also like my life coach because it’s a mental strategy. He always told me that running is 90 percent mental, and if you have a strong mind, you can organize and break down certain elements. So ultimately I know what I want, but to get there I need to encounter this person or that person or this company or this situation. I apply my running to my passion for my career but also my everyday life. I plan everything.
