When it comes to creative people, they typically have more than one artistic skill. For example, Federico Castelluccio is an actor and a painter, Katherine Narducci actor and painter and our very own Catherine Natale an actor and an artist. As a young girl she was at first attracted to drawing as an outlet to her shyness and through the assistance from her mother she soon discovered she had an actor inside her. She would soon begin performing as a teenager and took her talents to the Big Apple.
In New York she honed her skills at Roundabout Theatre, Second City, Groundlings, Ensemble Studio, Uta Hagen and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. With all this under her belt she found herself appearing in Off- Broadway shows at the Jewish Rep, American Jewish Rep, Actors Playhouse, and the Ensemble Studio. She has worked on TV and films in New York and LA and continues to do so. Only recently she founded her own production company Maxpetals Productions.
One of Catherine’s specialties as an actor is comedy yet has taken on all types of roles. With her comedy projects she has managed to be a semi-finalist and finalists in festivals worldwide. Currently, her web series “All About Manos” which she co-wrote/acted/produced with Eden Young was nominated and won awards at many film festivals. The project is available in over ten different online platforms. So far, it has been a New Jersey Festival Nominee for “Best Ensemble Cast in a Comedy” and at the Seoul Webfest Nominee for “Best Sketch Comedy”. The project also has locked in distribution in Asia.
Website: https://www.allaboutmanostv.com/
One of her most important projects she has worked on was her dark comedy “#MyGamophobia” which she has just won New York Script Awards “Best TV Screenplay 2021”, Lit Laugh Comedy International Film Festival Semi-Finalist 2020 and the Austin Revolution Film Festival Official Selection for 2022. It is also noteworthy to mention that Catherine has worked with actors like Frank Vincent (Sopranos), Betty Garrett (Taxi & All In the Family) and Rob Morrow (Num3rs & Northern Exposure).
“I really learned how to write because when I started, I had never written anything before. Writing is hard. It was a love – hate relationship with myself. And boy, at times I took a beating, but I learned and still learning. After all these years with this project, ten years later through many re-writes and following advice from people it just grew and what I thought was the project is now different. I never gave up on it. When you are an actor, you research your part, but it is someone else’s words you just interpret and follow the truth of what the writer wants. But when you write and create something from nothing your heart and soul is all there for the world to see and it’s a part of you always good or bad.”
If there are any actors Catherine would love to work with, she mentioned Al Pacino, William H. Macy, Frances McDormand and especially Steve Buscemi. For 2021 she has embarked on a few projects like the docu-series entitled “TransTruckers” LGBTQ in trucking, “Blood Money” (pre-production) written by Peter Papageorgiou and “#MyGamophobia Dark Comedy” all of them released via her company Maxpetals Productions which is being directed by Daytime Emmy Award Winner Michael Indjeian.
Also, in 2021 she worked on the project “Red Herring” written by Bobby Peoples and Directed by Renee and Bobby Peoples (The Peoples Network). It is a role she normally would not get casted in, but she aced it. She plays the character Dr. Efren a Psychiatrist with Dr. Melfi under tones from the Sopranos. The film is a murder-mystery web series. They are going to be doing a second season since the first season was a big hit.
In addition, there are two other projects in the works “A Piece of Me” written by Darlene Dalmaceda which is another murder – mystery. She plays the nosey landlord Susan. Lastly, the project “Destinies” which was adapted by the book of the same title by Peter Papagergiou with names like Al Sapienza (House of Cards), Lou Vanaria (Bronx Tale) and Lou Martini Jr (Sopranos) connected to it. She plays the mother of the main character. Catherine is on a roll and at this point the only way is up.
“I just want to continue acting and developing new and old projects. The industry is starting to connect with me regarding collaborating as a writer on projects. It’s amazing and so many stories to tell. My family growing up was always an inspiration for stories coming from a very lively New Jersey Italian family!”
IMDb link: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1264695/