Born Katena Ktenavea in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of midtown Manhattan, the future TV and film actress grew up in Los Angeles and began her acting career on the stage and radio in the late '40s. She made her film debut in the campy sci-fi adventure Mesa of Lost Women (1953). Five years later she starred as the imperious Dr. Myra in director Jerry Warren's Teenage Zombies (1959), which led to a series of roles in Warren's impoverished productions. Always busy outside of acting (in modelling, real estate and in various jobs in the animated cartoon business), Victor felt that the stigma of being a regular in Warren's movies stymied her mainstream acting career.