
Katariina Unt
Acting
Biography
Katariina Unt (born Katariina Lauk; December 6, 1971) is an Estonian stage, television, and film actress. Katariina Unt was born in Tallinn. Her mother is interior decorator Malle Lauk and her father is artist Tõnu Lauk, who works mainly with metals. The youngest of four siblings, she grew up mostly in Pärnu. She graduated in 1990 from Pärnu Hansa Secondary School, then completed her studies in Tallinn at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Drama School in 1994 (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre). Her graduating classmates included Mait Malmsten, Ain Mäeots, Liisa Aibel, Ago Anderson, Indrek Sammul, and Andres Puustusmaa. Between 1994 and 2001, she was engaged at the Tallinn City Theatre. Following her departure, she worked for a while as a freelance actor, performing at the Estonia Theatre, Endla Theatre and the Kuressaare Town Theatre, among others. In 2007, she joined the VAT Theatre in Tallinn, where she still currently performs. Among her more memorable roles in theater were in works by: William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Madis Kõiv, Molière, Tadeusz Różewicz, Luchino Visconti, Tom Stoppard, Andrus Kivirähk, August Kitzberg and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, among many others. Katariina Unt made her film debut as Mari in the 1994 Jaan Kolberg-directed film Jüri Rumm. This was followed by a recurring role on the popular ETV drama series Õnne 13. In 2013, she appeared in the Kanal 2 paranormal-thriller television series Süvahavva. Her first large film role was that of Eetla in the 2003 Sulev Keedus-directed war drama Somnambuul (English: Somnambulance). Other popular roles were in films such as Katrin Laur's Ruudi (2006), Veiko Õunpuu's Sügisball (Autumn Ball, 2007), Sulev Keedus' Kirjad Inglile (Letters to Angel, 2011) and Rainer Sarnet's Idioot (The Idiot, 2011), a starring role as Viivi in the 2016 Mart Kivastik directed romantic drama Õnn tuleb magades opposite actor Ivo Uukkivi and in Rainer Sarnet's November, 2017, based on the novel by Andrus Kivirähk. In many of her earlier film and television appearances, she is credited as Katariina Lauk (her birthname) and Katariina Lauk-Tamm (while married to Raivo E. Tamm). In 1993 she married actor Indrek Sammul, the couple divorced in 1995. In 1997, she wed actor Raivo E. Tamm, however, the two would divorce in 2003. Unt and Tamm have a daughter. In 2011, she remarried once again, taking her husband's surname Unt.
Known For

In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
Azrael

A refugee family in Sweden faces trauma after their youngest daughter falls into an unexplained coma when denied asylum. Parents struggle to find a cure, resilience tested amid difficult circumstances.
Quiet Life

In a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.
November

When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah, the other the Antichrist.
Deliver Us

An otherworldly journey through a Europe in decline - a collection of darkly humorous, fantasy tales about ill-fated characters and doomed fortune.
Undergods

A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being a good person questions his morality as he faces the challenges of middle age and loses control of his life.
The Temptation of St. Tony

There are two people who wake up in the same bed one morning, and neither of them has a clue who the other is. Viivi would like to run away and the man is sleeping like a log. Unlike Viivi and Andu themselves, the viewers know both very well. They know that Viivi has the worst day in her life and that Andu is a dweeb, but not completely hopeless; a rather good-hearted man. They are both hopelessly lonely people hoping that maybe there's someone somewhere - So they might as well meet.
When You Least Expect It

Autumn in Estonia, where six people live, six solitudes, prisoners of the monotonous architecture of Soviet-era concrete buildings, in search of human companionship, of love, of a ray of light in an ocean of gray.
Autumn Ball

On a summer break, Mia and her friends try a meditation app that’s somehow related to the operating system of the Tallinn Zoo, changing the body chemistry of its users into something between pollen and cosmic dust. Mia will need to choose between saving her friends or joining them.
Infinite Summer

A story of a naive man, whose direct behavior stirs in people moral unrest, rage and embarrassment over their own pettiness, making them yearn for goodness.
The Idiot

Mattias has a dream to become a photography student of the Berlin Arts Academy. On the journey of following his calling, his dream is constantly put to a test after Mattias falls in love with a beautiful free spirit Hanna. Trying to win her heart, Mattias feels the need to prove Hanna, that he can be just as adventurous and unpredictable as she is. Breaking the law together with Hanna, Mattias risks everything dear to him, not knowing yet, that Hanna's bold acts are only the symptoms of bipolar disorder. In the moment of jelousy Mattias accidentally commits a crime that could put him behind bars for years. The only escape he sees is to get himself declared irresponsible. In order to achieve that Mattias decides to start faking the illness her gilfriend really has - bipolarity.
The Polar Boy

Where would you look for help if the bank refused your loan application, which you saw as so certain? This is the kind of problem Taavi and Liisa find themselves facing. Would a lottery ticket be helpful, or instead a few thousand Bitcoins that were floating around in your tech box ten years ago? Meanwhile, enthusiastic entrepreneur Maximillion enjoys the attention of his crypto exchange and can't wait for the collapse of classic banking with his beautiful Armani. The head of the pension fund, Erik, however, keeps his sanity and avoids everything digital. After all, only what you understand and grasp is worth investing in. But what do you do when even your 12-year-old son already earns more than you?
Free Money

With his last breath Uu's friend entrusts him with the secret of how to go to the past. Uu is an engineer and doesn't believe in miracles, but the trick works. In the past there is a pleasant, eternal summer, long hair, girls and Jenkki chewing gum. In his real life, it is autumn, his friends are bitter, the girls are married and his father is seriously ill. At the end of the day, however, Uu has to decide in which time to live his life - in the summer of the past or in the autumn of the present.
Stairway to Heaven
In Soviet Estonia, one woman's tragedy intersects with a doctor's inner struggle: to obey the orders of an authoritarian system or risk losing everything in the name of truth.
Serafima

Jüri Rumm is a hot-tempered young peasant who is not afraid of either German barons or the Russian czar, barfights or disobedience to his master's orders. Mari, a gentle peasant girl, loves Jüri despite the fact that he is very popular among young women. Evelin is a quick-tempered baron's daughter who is used to get everything she wants, including a peasant boyfriend who considers himself a free man. Yet, the free man becomes an outlaw. Where will the runaway's love lead him?
Jüri Rumm

A family comedy about a 7-year-old boy, who's a devoted viking fan.
Ruudi

When 15-year-old rebellious Stefi goes missing, her mother Helena has nothing left to lose. Why cling to sanity when madness offers a chance for reconciliation and love?
Lioness

Jeremia Juunas Kirotaja has been fighting in Afghanistan; 21 years later he returns to Estonia to his father's funeral. He has converted to Islam and his only connection to his native land is the sound of his daughter Angel's crying that he heard a long time ago on the phone. Jeremia starts to search for his family. The daily life - if this can be called life in the first place - of the dusty and abandoned town is being run by women since men are almost gone. Nevertheless, the women seem to hope that Jeremia will be able to do something about it in order to remove the paralyzing feeling of emptiness.
Letters to Angel

The film consists of three chapters. The Manslayer takes place more than a hundred years ago. The leading character Maara is a young bride who is about to start her life in her new family. The Virgin, set in the spring of 1949, tells the story of a young woman called Elina, who has been deported from Ingria into Estonia during the previous war. The Shadow moves in the present, on the border of real life and fantasy. The main character, Luna Lee, has decided to flee from home. Is there anything besides emptiness somewhere? The film is led by the singularity of the leading character - Maara, Elina and Luna Lee are all played by the same actress.
Manslayer/Virgin/Shadow

Renowned German organist Anna discovers her Latvian husband's involvement in a corruption scandal, shaking the foundation of their life together. Can she come to terms with this new reality about her husband?