# Laia Manzanares

Laia Manzanares Tomàs (born 30 March 1994) is a Spanish actress best known for her role as the cheerleader and love interest in Tame Impala's 2015 music video for "The Less I Know the Better", which became a sleeper hit and cult classic in the late 2010s. She is also known for playing the role of Ukrainian student Oksana Casanoves in the Spanish television series Merlí.

## Early life

Laia Manzanares Tomàs was born in 1994, to a Valencian father and Catalan mother. She was educated at the Institut Públic XXV Olimpiada high school and the Col·legi de Teatre, for two years, in Barcelona.
Manzanares was inspired to act professionally after watching Uma Thurman as Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 and being impressed by the character's strength of personality. Hoping to inspire others in the same way, Manzanares expressed her hope to work with high school or elementary school students to help instill self confidence in young people going through the "most vulnerable" periods in their lives. Between castings she worked as a waitress and had she not become an actress she would have studied psychology.

## Career

In the music video for "The Less I Know the Better", the surrealist Tame Impala music video, she is a cheerleader and the lover of a high school basketball player who is seduced by the gorilla mascot "Trevor".
In television roles she has appeared in series such as Merlí, Cites [es], El día de mañana, Ray, and Matar al Padre. In theatre roles, she has portrayed Amanda Todd (a Canadian teen who committed suicide due to cyberbullying and revenge pornography) in a dramatization called Amanda T. for TNC's youth theatre.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 2016 | Waste | | Alejo Levis and Laura Sisteró | Short film |
| 2017 | Sol creixent | Laia | Guillem Manzanares | Short film |
| 2018 | Proyecto tiempo | Eva | Isabel Coixet | Film for Naturgy |
| 2019 | La Tierra llamando a Ana | Ana | Fernando Bonelli | Short film with 43 award wins |
| 2021 | Alegría | Yael | Violeta Salama | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2016 | Cites | Laia Farràs | 1 episode |
| 2016–2018 | Merlí | Oksana Casanoves | 27 episodes |
| 2018 | Matar al padre | Ruth | 1 episode |
| 2018 | El día de mañana | Party guest (uncredited) | 1 episode |
| 2018 | Vilafranca | Eva | Television film |
| 2019 | Estoy vivo | Carlota | Limited series |
| 2019 | Hache | Sisilia | Netflix series |
| 2022 | La noche más larga | Sara | Netflix series |
| 2025 | Asuntos internos | Clara Montesinos | La 1 series |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Venue |
| 2014 | Malnascuts | | Txiki Blasi | Sala Beckett |
| 2014 | Esquerdes | | Txiki Blasi | Nau Ivanow |
| 2016–2017 | Odisseus | | Quimet Pla y Oriol Pla | Sala Beckett |
| 2018 | Temps salvatge | Ivana | Josep Maria Miró | Teatre Nacional de Catalunya |
| 2019 | Amanda T | Amanda Todd | Àlex Mañas | Teatre Nacional de Catalunya |

## Awards
### Fugaz Awards

| Year | Category | Short film | Result |
| 2019 | Best Actress | La Tierra llamando a Ana | Won |

### International Film Festival of Wales

| Year | Category | Short film | Result |
| 2020 | Best Actress | La Tierra llamando a Ana | Won |