Entertainment

Catherine Reitman: Biography and General Trivia

Catherine Reitman

Catherine Marcelle Reitman is a Canadian actress from Los Angeles who is a producer and writer. She is the executive producer, writer and star of the comedy series Workin’ Moms.

Catherine Reitman began her career in the entertainment industry after successfully hosting a web film review show called “Breakin’ It Down with Catherine Reitman” on YouTube in 2011. She has gained worldwide fame for being the creator of the CBC comedy series Workin’ Moms.

Catherine Reitman: Quick Facts To Know

How old is Catherine Reitman?

She is 38 years old as she was born on 28 April 1981. 

Is Catherine Reitman related to Ivan Reitman?

Yes. The daughter of Hollywood director Ivan Reitman: Catherine, wrote, directed and starred in Workin’ Moms. Catherine Reitman does a 13-parter based on her own life as a working mother. 

The show is about the story of four women in a mommies’ group. Wanting to have it all, they multitask with relationships, insatiable babies, horrific co-workers and postpartum depression. It was picked up by CBC as a Canadian comedy and is written and directed by Black-ish star Catherine Reitman. Catherine is the daughter of Canadian Hollywood director Ivan Reitman. 

Is Catherine Reitman Canadian?

Catherine Marcelle Reitman is a Canadian actress from Los Angeles who is a producer and writer. She is the creator, executive producer, writer and star of the comedy series Workin’ Moms.

Her Canadian roots can be traced back to her parents: French-Canadian actress Geneviève Robert and Slovak-born Canadian film director Ivan Reitman. 

She wrote, directed and starred in the YouTube show Breakin’ It Down With Catherine Reitman- which brought her success in 2011.  She shares the executive producer role on Workin’ Moms with husband and producing partner Phil Sternberg through their shingle Wolf and Rabbit Productions.

Workin Moms also marks the latest collaboration between the Reitman family and Canada. Catherine pitched the CBC and rival Canadian broadcasters on Workin’ Moms while in Toronto to also help her brother, Jason Reitman. This was for his live table read of The Princess Bride at the Toronto Film Festival.

Ivan Reitman (her father) told The Hollywood Reporter he will remain on the sidelines as the cheering “consigliere” for his daughter’s Canadian show. “Her brother (Jason Reitman) has always loved Toronto, and it’s really great to see Catherine come back to my hometown and discover her Canadian roots,” he recalled. 

The immigrant story:

If someone was to trace back their Canadian roots, the Reitman family’s Canadian immigrants-make-good story. It began when a 4-year-old Ivan Reitman and his late parents, Leslie and Clara Reitman, came to Canada from their native country of Czechoslovakia. The elder Reitmans eventually ran a car wash from the mid-1960s as a family business in Toronto, before changing their downtown property into a parking lot.

Ivan Reitman ( Catherine’s father ) went on to a successful Hollywood career when he directed hit films like Kindergarten Cops, Stripes and Ghostbusters! To reach his levels of success, Ivan and sisters Agi Mandel and Susan Michaels in 2000 donated the plot of land to help build Bell Lightbox, the Toronto Film Festival’s year-round headquarters. 

As Workin’ Moms is a family affair, it shows the increasing influence of cable comedy on the pubcaster as it looks to compete with serialized American dramas and comedies that dominate Canadian primetime TV. 

“Catherine’s ability to reflect the complexity of being a working mother with great humor, poignancy and honesty is remarkable,” said Sally Catto, general manager, programming at CBC English Television, in her own statement.

How tall is Catherine Reitman?

She is 1.65 m in height. 

Who is Catherine Reitman married to?

Philip Sternberg since 2009. Philip Sternberg is a producer, actor and writer from Ontario, Canada. He is the spouse of Catherine Reitman (Los Angeles born actress, producer, writer and film critic).

Catherine Reitman began her career in the entertainment industry after successfully hosting a web film review show called “Breakin’ It Down with Catherine Reitman” on YouTube in 2011. She has gained world-wide fame for being the creator of the CBC comedy series Workin’ Moms. In fact, Catherine Reitman created, and is an executive producer, writer, and star in the series.

In addition, Philip Sternberg worked in “The Super” reality TV show in 2011. The 40-years-old actor is famous for appearing in the TV series titled “Workin’ Moms” in 2017. He played one of the main characters named “Nathan Foster” in the show.

According to the calculated net worth of Philip Sternberg, he is valued at $1.5 million US Dollars as of 2019. Sternberg earlier also served as President of Candor Entertainment for five years in his career. He produced pilots for various big channels like Vh1, Spike TV, History Channel, and Showtime.

Who plays Gina in working moms?

Catherine Reitman plays Gina in Workin’ Moms. 

Who wrote working moms?

The daughter of Hollywood director Ivan Reitman from Canada is writing, directing and starring in Workin’ Moms. Catherine Reitman does a 13-parter based on her own life as a working mother. 

The show is about the story of four women in a mommies’ group wanting to have it all as they multitask with relationships, insatiable babies, horrific co-workers and postpartum depression- based on Catherine’s own life as a working mother. It was picked up by CBC as a Canadian comedy and is written and directed by Black-ish star Catherine Reitman. 

“I hope we can serve as a comedic battle cry for women experiencing change everywhere,” Reitman said in a statement on Thursday. This perfectly sums up her writing process as she suffered from severe postpartum depression.

This is what she wrote about her experience in creating Workin’ Moms:

“ My name is Catherine, and I had postpartum depression- twice. However, the luxury of knowing what had taken over my brain was not something I had at the time. I simply believed that by having a child, I was no longer myself. I began to feel…off.

I had returned to work and seemed to be making good progress. So you can imagine my shock when I fantasized that a bus would hit me on my drive home one day.

My goal was not to die, but to be knocked unconscious long enough that I’d be taken care of. The strangest part of these fantasies was that they would make me laugh. The idea of being shot through my front windshield would scare me at first, and then fill me with laughter as I’d imagine a luxury hospital stay far from the responsibilities of my life. (I feel the need to footnote here that I am not a morbid or dark person. I studied musical theater, for God’s sake.)

So when I’d be in the kitchen and imagining a gas leak that would knock me out—in this fantasy, my baby is with my husband out of the house—you can understand the conflicting feelings I was experiencing. Desperate to hear I was not alone, I brought up my car-crash fantasy at Mommy and Me. As I explained the buzz that would take over my body as I’d imagine the accident, the moms looked at me as though I should be in a straitjacket.

On that day I remember thinking that I was now broken. That having a child had changed my chemistry forever. I no longer had any sense of self.

I remember going out with friends and laughing, only to find myself crying for the entire drive home. I felt painfully alone and yet surrounded by people and responsibilities. One of the few things that brought me relief in these moments of darkness was my ability to imagine sinister things and then laugh at them. I often look back at this period and wish someone had told me that I was experiencing a temporary hormonal state of depression and that by choosing humor, I was in charge of my own off-brand treatment.

It wasn’t until my husband, Philip Sternberg, urged me to write about my experiences that I began to see the light. By fleshing out my sadness, exposing the strange and funny angles to it, I began to recognize the “me” that I was prior to having my son.

So I committed to retelling the postpartum scenes I had lived, but with one glaring change: I wrote myself as four different characters who I knew would outgrow this period. While I felt hopelessness, “Kate Foster” (a character) would persevere. She could outwit her darkest moments while rocking a skirt suit that screamed: “I know who I am!” I could sit in a pile of fear and tears at my computer, but the women I scribed were barreling forward and speaking their truths.

Once my pain was inked on paper, I couldn’t let it die. By writing these scenes, I was filled with purpose. Philip and I begged friends to help us shoot and edit these scenes, eventually leading to the creation of Workin’ Moms. As the job took over and time passed, so did my PPD. I’d occasionally find myself back in a dark patch, only to feel lighter the next day. There was no quick fix for me. Having an outlet, a place where I could express myself and counter my dark fantasies with epic wins of mothers smashing through glass ceilings, pulled me through the fog.

The show took flight in ways I never could have imagined. Before it aired, I remember feeling a period of “what the hell was I thinking.” Exposing this moment in my life and allowing the world to watch and laugh at it was something that kept me up at night. I feared that revealing how I dealt with my PPD was somehow the wrong way. Nothing was more shocking than the response after the show aired. Not only were people connecting with the stories, but they felt seen. I can’t tell you how many women and men have reached out to me, both online and on the street, to express how they felt less alone.

The idea that we can own our postpartum depression and choose how we get to process it is a liberating one. Talking about my experiences—even the dark and dangerous ones—freed me. Own your pain. It is not only your right, but also an opportunity to get to know yourself more intimately. “ 

In addition to Workin’ Moms, Catherine also has a second scripted comedy in development at the CBC, Starting Over. It follows a young woman who moves back in with her impulsive twin sister and lonely father after she discovers her husband has slept with most of her friends and boss. Catherine Reitman’s other acting credits include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Knocked Up and Friends With Benefits. She even wrote, directed and starred in her YouTube show Breakin’ It Down With Catherine. 

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