Catherine Oxenberg Biography

Catherine Oxenberg was born on 22nd September 1961 in New York City, U.S as the eldest daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and her first husband Howard Oxenberg, an American Jewish businessman.

Her siblings include a sister Christina Oxenberg and a younger half-brother Nicholas Balfour from her mother's second marriage to Neil Balfour of Dawyck.

For her education, she went to Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in Kensington, London, and then returned to USA to go to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire from where she graduated summa cum laude in 1979.

She then joined Harvard University and later transferred to Columbia University to study psychology, philosophy and mythology. In between, she studied improv with Stanley Zaraff.

Catherine Oxenberg’s career began as a model while she was still studying. She was signed by Ford Models during this time. She also graced the covers of magazines like Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Interview.

Her screen career began in 1982 when she portrayed Princess Diana in the CBS television movie The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana.

A couple of years later—in 1984—i she shot for a pilot episode of an action-adventure series Cover Up wherein she played Michelle Lloyd. The same year she also acted as Monika Blackbird in a couple of episodes of romantic comedy drama series The Love Boat. In 1986, she once again became a part of the series for a couple of episodes as Carrie Barton.

In 1984 again, Catherine Oxenberg was roped in to play Amanda Carrington in ABC’s primetime romance drama series Dynasty. She joined the cast of the show when it was at its peak of popularity and continued to be a part of it till 1986 (54 episodes). The show brought her a lot of popularity.

In 1986, she hosted an episode of the late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. With this, she became the only member of a royal family ever to do so.

In 1987, she acted in two television movie – a thriller drama Still Crazy Like a Fox and romantic comedy Roman Holiday.

In 1988, Catherine Oxenberg made her big screen debut with the British comedy horror film The Lair of the White Worm which was loosely inspired by Bram Stoker’s 1911 novel of the same name. The same year, she also appeared as herself in the documentary film Walking after Midnight.

She next worked in NBC television movie Swimsuit and CBS television movie Trenchcoat in Paradise (both 1989). This was followed by a television movie Bony and another thriller film Overexposed in 1990.

In 1992, Catherine Oxenberg once again portrayed Princess Diana in the ABC television movie Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After. The following year, she was signed up to play Ashley Hunter-Coddington in the action-adventure series Acapulco H.E.A.T. She was part of the series for the first season till 1994.

The decade of 1990s saw her starring in numerous television movies including Ring of Scorpio, K-9000 (both 1991), Sexual Response (1992), Rubdown (1993), Treacherous Beauties (1994), Catch Me If You Can (1998), Boys Will Be Boys, Arthur's Quest, Time Served, The Collectors and Thrill Seekers (all 1999).

Apart from the above movie, she acted in an episode of television series The Nanny (1995); hosted Disney Channel’s This Island Earth (1992) and Fox channel’s Royals: Dynasty or Disaster (1993); voiced a video CyberFin Virtual Dolphin Swim (1994) and acted in a movie The Omega Code (1999).

During the next decade, Catherine Oxenberg acted in more television movies including Road Rage (2000), The Flying Dutchman, The Miracle of the Cards (both 2001), The Vector File (2002), Premonition (2005) and The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation (2010).

Between 2006 and 2007, she was cast in the role of Leandra Thames in Watch Over Me, a television series adapted from Argentinian series Resistiré.

She also acted in an episode each of television series Baywatch (2000) and Out of Practice (2005) and appeared as herself in television documentaries E! True Hollywood Story (2001), TV's Most Memorable Weddings (2003), My Coolest Years (2005) and Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar (2006).

Additionally, Catherine Oxenberg acted in a crime horror thriller movie Sanctimony (2000), lent her voice to a video game Starship Troopers (2005) and appeared as herself in the family reality show I Married a Princess (along with her then husband Casper Van Dien, 2005) and another reality show American Princess (2007). She also turned producer for I Married a Princess.

In 2014, Catherine Oxenberg played Queen Violet in the adventure fantasy horror film Sleeping Beauty. The following year she played Reinhardt in the television movie Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf.

In 2018, she co-authored (together with New York Times bestselling author Natasha Stoynoff) a book Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult. In the book, Catherine Oxenberg gave an account of losing her daughter, India, to a sex cult and her own efforts to bring her back.

In 2019 she executive produced and also narrated an original TV movie – Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Daughter – on Lifetime Television. The movie was based on the above memoir. In the movie, Catherine was portrayed by actress Andrea Roth.

In 2020, Catherine Oxenberg featured as herself in seven episodes of HBO’s true crime documentary series The Vow and four episodes of Starz television network’s another true crime documentary miniseries Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult. The former revolves around cult NXIVM, its leader Keith Raniere and Catherine’s attempt to free her daughter while in the latter, she speaks about her experience in the cult for the first time.

Catherine Oxenberg has a daughter India Riven Oxenberg (born 1991) whose father is William Weitz Shaffer, a convicted drug smuggler.

Catherine’s first marriage to producer Robert Evans in 1998 ended after just nine days.

In 1999, she married actor Casper Van Dien. They have two daughters together Ananda Maya Van Dien (2001) and Celeste Alma Van Dien (2003). The couple separated in 2015.

In 2011, the Catherine and India attended leadership seminar for a leadership organization called NXIVM. They took it for a self-help, business-oriented program; however, India soon became involved in the cult. Catherine fought for years to free her daughter from the cult and its leader Keith Raniere.