How ‘The Mandalorian’ Star Katee Sackhoff’s Horrific Injury Led Her Into Acting
The Mandalorian has given Katee Sackhoff, who plays Bo-Katan Kryze on the Star Wars series, perhaps her most popular role. But Sackhoff very nearly didn’t pursue acting at all. In fact, she had a very different career plan until fate intervened. Here’s how Sackhoff decided to become an actor, finding herself on a collision course with Hollywood in the late ’90s.
Katee Sackhoff had a breakthrough role on ‘Battlestar Galactica’
From 2004 to 2009, Sackhoff played fan-favorite character Starbuck on the rebooted Battlestar Galactica. That Syfy established her as a major name on television, particularly in the sci-fi space. And over the next decade or so, Sackhoff would become a TV mainstay with multiple guest appearances on shows such as Nip/Tuck, 24, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and The Flash.
In addition, Sackhoff landed major roles on Longmire and Another Life, the latter of which led her to a meeting with her now-husband Robin Gadsby. Sackhoff has also appeared in films such as Halloween: Resurrection, Riddick, and Oculus. So looking back, it’s wild to consider she very nearly pursued a completely different career path from acting on television and in movies.
Katee Sackhoff suffered a leg injury that changed her life forever
In a live Q&A with fans on her YouTube channel in 2020, Sackhoff talked about her early goals and aspirations. As she explains, her original goal was to be a swimmer, perhaps even competing in the Olympic Games. However, that goal was sidetracked when she dislocated her knees at 16. She had to stop swimming and, as Sackhoff said, had to “pivot and reinvent [herself].”
Following a suggestion by her mother, Sackhoff tried out to be a body double for Kirsten Dunst for a 1998 Lifetime movie titled Fifteen and Pregnant. Although she wasn’t right for that job, the team asked her to come back and read for a role in the movie. That project was Sackhoff’s first acting credit, got her into the union, and introduced her to the manager she’s had her whole career.
Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze is integral to ‘The Mandalorian’
As Sackhoff explains, if she hadn’t suffered that knee injury, she wouldn’t have become an actor. And she certainly wouldn’t have had such success on television or met and married Gadsby, with whom she shares a daughter. Sackhoff said only with hindsight can you look back and see the reason why things happened to you in the way that they did.
For Star Wars fans, Sackhoff’s work as Bo-Katan was certainly always meant to be. The actor voiced the Mandalorian warrior on animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. So it’s only right that Sackhoff has returned as Bo-Katan for the live-action The Mandalorian. The character has a compelling arc in Season 3 and continues to be a key figure.
