Katya Golvin is a Russian-born actor and author living and working in New York City. A classically-trained performer and an empathetic, free-spirited citizen of the world, Katya has spent her life striving to understand and express humanity through storytelling. Born and raised on Sakhalin, the island that once played host to playwright Anton Chekhov, Katya began performing at a young age, studying ballet and music. Despite her affinity for the arts, Katya instead studied languages in St Petersburg and Berlin, before working in the corporate sector for the better part of a decade.
A combination of long-term illness and occupational dysphoria eventually saw her leaving the executive life behind and embarking on an extensive journey of healing and connection which led her through Vietnam, Bali, India and Cambodia. Her search only ended when, at 33, she re-committed to her first passion: performing. She auditioned and was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, a storied school that brought her to live and work in a city she had dreamed about since childhood.
Upon graduation she began working prolifically as an actor, earning plaudits for her work in the ouvre of her countryman, Anton Chekhov. She quickly racked up credits in the best known of his works, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, and The Three Sisters at venues including the New York Chekhov Festival, Columbia Stages, and working with directors from the prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre.
During the pandemic she decided it was finally time to tell her own story. Her first book, a memoir of her time spent travelling the far east and reconnecting with her inner self through the art and eastern wisdom of humankind, is slated to be published in Russia later this year.
When she is not working, she is usually outdoors, either hiking in the mountains, swimming in the ocean, travelling with friends or making new ones out on the open road.
"There is always a risk in being alive, and if you are more alive, there is more risk"
