ABOUT
I am Austrian-Canadian based in Vienna,
working as actress, director, and writer.
(Pronouns: she/her)
Growing up in Vienna, I was part of various theater groups as a teenager and attended courses at the media center where professionals taught us screenwriting, camera operation, and film editing. My first films were shown on the big screen at the Vienna Video and Film Days, and I have been captivated by this world ever since.
At fifteen, I spent an exchange year in Brazil, learned Portuguese, and delved into Brazilian film history, especially the ‘Cinema Novo’ movement, known for its emphasis on social equality during the 1960s and 1970s. Upon my return, I wrote a published paper titled ‘Hunger as Tragic Originality in Art’.
After high school, I studied Transmedia Art at the University of Applied Arts and Performance Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. My videos and performances playfully questioned the power dynamics of language and meaning production. At eighteen, I won an award at Ars Electronica for my video that likened the uterus to a reflection of our universe, contrasting ultrasound technology with the Hubble Space Telescope’s observation methods.
In the following years, I participated in numerous exhibitions and received awards such as an Ars Electrona prize, Ö1 Talent Scholarship, the START Scholarship for Media Art, the Best Short Film Award at the Frauenfilmtage Vienna in the category ‘Gender Constructions in Short Formats’, the main prize at the Now&After Film Festival in Moscow, and the Young Female Artist Award from Bildrecht GmbH, among others.
During my university years, I co-founded the all-female art punk band “Perlen für die Säue” armed with an amplified ukulele and my voice, performing at the Gendercrash at Brut, the Fluc, and other various venues in Vienna.
Diving deeper into acting, I continued my artistic journey by studying at the Acting School Krauss in Vienna and soon seized the opportunity to move to New York with a scholarship and earn my diploma from the Stella Adler Studio of Acting Conservatory program. My stay in America spanned six years, during which I performed in theater productions and short films, landed a supporting role in the American TV pilot ‘Cicatrix’, directed an experimental film and several music videos, worked as an assistant director on a TV series, and founded the band “What Would Tilda Swinton Do,” performing regularly at venues along the East Coast such as the Bowery Electric, the Good Room, and the Rockwood Music Hall.
In the spring of 2020, I collaborated with Argentine director Mariano Cabaco on the script for the short film “Astronauts.” Set in Vienna in 2001, it tells the story of a single mother who meets a queer person dressed as an astronaut, who helps her make one of the toughest decisions of her life. Funding from Austria made it possible to shoot in Vienna the following year, bringing me back to my homeland. I took on the lead role in the film. The premiere was at the Diagonale’22 and we were highlighted at several international festivals.
Back in Vienna, I performed in the production “The more it comes the more it goes” by Israeli director David Maayan at Hamakom Theater. I was part of a small writer’s room with author Malina Nnendi Nwabuonwor, developing a series concept – a new and important experience for me. I am also a founding member of dieRegisseur*innen, an association dedicated to networking, solidarity, and advocating for inclusion and justice within the Austrian film industry.
Currently, my latest short film, ‘The Invincibles,’ co-created with Noemi Sophia James, is making its festival tour. It tells the story of forgotten Jewish female artists during the Nazi era. I am in pre-production for a new short film about two women, grappling with their own losses, who meet at a remote lake and discover their fates are mysteriously intertwined. In an “acting laboratory group,” I am expanding my skills with the Demidov acting technique on a regular basis.
Last but not least, I am developing a TV series as part of the competitive screenwriting program “Diverse Geschichten,” an initiative to help make Austria’s real cultural diversity visible in domestic film and television scripts.
Outside of my professional pursuits, I am a passionate boxer and equestrian, and I have a really special dog (I am serious!).