Anya Chalotra

Anya Chalotra (born 1995 or 1996)^[1] is a British actress. She began her career in a 2017 production of the play Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe, and made her screen debut with BBC dramas Wanderlust and The ABC Murders in 2018. She gained recognition for her starring role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in the Netflix series The Witcher.

Anya Chalotra
Chalotra in July 2019
Born	1995 or 1996 (age 28–29) Wolverhampton, England
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2017–present

Early life

Chalotra was born in Wolverhampton, England,^[2] the daughter of an English mother and Indian father.^[3] Her father's ancestral home is located in Pathankot district in the state of Punjab in India.^[4] She grew up in the village of Lower Penn with her parents, older sister, and younger brother.^[5] She attended St Dominic's Grammar School in Brewood.^[5] Chalotra started performing at school and youth theatre groups, then moved to London to complete a year-long foundation course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art^[5] followed by a three-year degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama,^[6][7] before she embarked on her professional career.

Career

Chalotra has starred in several stage productions.^[8][9] She was nominated for The Stage Debut Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Hero in Matthew Dunster's production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe in 2017,^[10] and subsequently earned acclaim for her roles in April De Angelis' The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2018,^[11] David Hare's Peter Gynt at the National Theatre in 2019,^[12] and Rupert Goold's stage adaptation of Cold War at the Almeida Theatre from 2023 to 2024.^[13][14]

Her first on screen role came in 2018 when she portrayed Jennifer Ashman in the BBC comedy-drama, Wanderlust, alongside Toni Collette. The same year, she appeared as Lily Marbury in BBC’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders, starring John Malkovich.^[15] In October 2018, it was announced that Chalotra had been cast in the main role of Yennefer alongside Henry Cavill as Geralt and Freya Allan as Ciri in Netflix series The Witcher,^[16] an adaptation of the fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Chalotra currently stars in a leading role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in the Netflix fantasy drama The Witcher.^[17][18] She has featured in all three seasons released to date; the first season premiered on 20 December 2019,^[19] with the second following on 17 December 2021^[20] and the third on 29 June 2023.^[21]

Chalotra was listed as one of Screen Daily's Stars of Tomorrow 2020.^[22][23] On 15 July, it was announced that she would be headlining the voice cast of the sci-fi animation series NEW-GEN.^[24] On 30 September, she starred in a short film called No Masks that aired on Sky Arts, based on real-life testimonies of key frontline workers in East London during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[25][26] She also voiced Sabrina in the 2020 BBC Sounds sci-fi podcast The Cipher.^[27][28] In 2024, Chalotra featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in European entertainment.^[29]

In January 2024, it was announced that Chalotra will voice Circe in the animated series Creature Commandos.^[30]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2025	The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep	Yennefer of Vengerberg (voice)	In production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2018	Wanderlust	Jennifer Ashman	Miniseries
	The ABC Murders	Lily Marbury	Miniseries
2019	Sherwood	Robin Loxley (voice)	Main role
2019–present	The Witcher	Yennefer of Vengerberg	Main role
2020	No Masks	Dr. Anuja	Short film (TV special)
2024	Creature Commandos	Circe (voice)

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theater	Ref.
2017	Much Ado About Nothing	Hero	Shakespeare's Globe
2018	The Village	Jyoti	Theatre Royal Stratford East	[31]
2019	Peter Gynt	Sabine	Royal National Theatre
2021	Maryland	Mary 2	Theatre Royal Stratford East
2023-2024	Cold War	Zula	Almeida Theatre	[32]

Podcasts

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2020–2021	The Cipher	Sabrina (voice)	Lead role

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2024	Unknown 9: Awakening	Haroona (voice)	Lead role

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref
2017	The Stage Awards	Best Actress in a Play	Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare's Globe	Nominated	[33]
2018	BroadwayWorld UK Awards	Best Actress in a New Production of a Play	The Village, Theatre Royal Stratford East	Nominated	[34]
2020	IMDb STARmeter Awards	Breakout Star	The Witcher	Won	[35]

References

1. "'The Witcher' star Anya Chalotra has the magic touch". GQ.
2. "'The Witcher' Star Anya Chalotra Shares A Few Of Her Favourite Things With Vogue". British Vogue. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
3. Dabral, Anupam (3 June 2020). "Who is Anya Chalotra, the Indian-Origin Actor from The Witcher?". Lifestyleasia.com. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
4. "The Witcher's Anya Chalotra on her dual British-Indian heritage and "growing up on Bollywood"". Vogue. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
5. St. Dominic's Grammar School Staff (13 September 2017). "Heroic Role for Actress Anya". StDominicsGrammarSchool.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
6. "Anya Chalotra: 'You can forget your lines no matter how well you know a play'". the stage.
7. "Guildhall School of Music & Drama | Anya Chalotra (2017)". gsmd.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
8. Wolf, Matt (24 August 2017). "A Mexican-Style 'Much Ado About Nothing'". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
9. Billington, Michael (15 September 2018). "The Village review – teenage firebrand leads resistance against patriarchy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
10. "Anya Chalotra: 'You can forget your lines no matter how well you know a play'". the stage.
11. "The Village, Stratford East — striking use of movement and music". financial times.
12. Billington, Michael (9 July 2019). "Peter Gynt review – David Hare brings modern madness to Ibsen's epic". the guardian.
13. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (20 September 2023). "Oscar-nominated romance Cold War to have major London stage adaptation". the guardian.
14. "Cold War review — a lush tender play with joy as well as trauma". The Times.
15. Iyengar, Radhika (16 December 2019). "Meet Anya Chalotra, the Indian origin lead actor in Netflix's The Witcher". Vogue India. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
16. Shanley, Patrick (10 October 2018). "Netflix's 'The Witcher' Finds Its Female Leads (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
17. Radulovic, Petrana (1 July 2019). "Netflix Reveals First Look at The Witcher Cast". Polygon. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
18. Wise, Louis (15 December 2019). "Anya Chalotra is The Witcher's secret weapon". The Times. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
19. Gonzalez, Oscar (31 October 2019). "Netflix's The Witcher begins streaming in December". Cnet. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
20. "Geralt fights giant monsters, and Jaskier befriends rats in new Witcher season 2 trailer". 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
21. "The Witcher Season 3 release date case details". Esquire. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
22. "Screen unveils the 2020 Stars of Tomorrow". Screen. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
23. "BBC One famous for acting in – Wanderlust – Jennifer". BBC. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
24. Ramachandran, Naman (15 July 2020). "'Stranger Things' Star Finn Wolfhard, 'Witcher's' Anya Chalotra Set For Sci-Fi Animation 'New-Gen' (EXCLUSIVE)".
25. "Anya Chalotra joins coronavirus play No Masks". Outlook India.
26. "No Masks – Stratford East". Stratford East. Archived from the original on 13 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
27. "BBC – Anya Chalotra and Chance Perdomo star in new sci-fi podcast The Cipher – Media Centre". BBC.
28. "The Cipher Episode 1 – Media Centre". BBC Sounds.
29. "Anya Chalotra". Forbes.
30. Peralta, Diego (15 January 2024). "'The Witcher's Anya Chalotra Joins 'Creature Commandos' in a Perfect Role". Collider. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
31. Vine, Hannah (13 September 2018). "First Look at The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East". Playbill. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
32. Wood, Alex (20 September 2023). "Initial cast confirmed for Cold War musical at the Almeida". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
33. "The Stage Nominees and winners 2017". thestage.co.uk. 22 September 2022.
34. "Shortlist Announced For The 2018 BroadwayWorld UK Awards". broadwayworld.com. 22 October 2018.
35. "Anya Chalotra Awards". IMDB (Index source only). Retrieved 19 September 2022.

External links

• Anya Chalotra at IMDb