# Freya Allan

Freya Allan (born 6 September 2001) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Princess Cirilla of Cintra in the Netflix series The Witcher, for which she was nominated for two Saturn Awards. She also appears as young Sam in the 2021 film Gunpowder Milkshake, as the younger version of The Widow in the AMC series Into the Badlands, and as Mae in the film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024).

## Early life and education

Allan was born on 6 September 2001 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, and attended Headington School in Oxford. Her parents separated when she was one and she lived with her mother in Australia and the French Pyrenees, where she attended a French-language school before returning to Oxford; she now lives in London. She has a younger half-brother and half-sister.
At school Allan studied drama and ballet and was part of the company in a touring production of Rapunzel at age eleven. She starred in two short films, Bluebird and The Christmas Tree produced by National Film and Television School and later performed the part of Linda in the short film Captain Fierce, produced by Bournemouth Film School.

## Career

Allan played a minor role in the first episode of the 2019 BBC drama The War of the Worlds. The same year she appeared on the front cover of Schön! magazine, whilst they were celebrating their 10th anniversary.
Since 2019, she has starred as Ciri alongside Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra in the Netflix fantasy drama series The Witcher, adapted by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich from The Witcher book series by Andrzej Sapkowski. Allan, who was originally cast as a one-off character before being recast as Ciri, lived in Budapest, Hungary for eight months during the filming of the first series. Allan reprised the role of Ciri for the second series, which was produced in London in early 2020 and released in 2021 on Netflix. Allan has twice been nominated for Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for her performance as Ciri.
In 2021, Allan played the lead role in the horror film Baghead, directed by Alberto Corredor and co-starring Ruby Barker. In 2023, Allan filmed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in Australia, playing Mae, one of the few human characters who appear in the film. Acknowledging the physicality of the role, Allan opted to perform some of her own stunts. While later promoting the film she posted on Instagram behind-the-scenes videos from the shoot of her performing stunts and humorously drinking from a bottle held between her bare feet while in make-up, which briefly went viral. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was released in the USA on 10 May 2024 and went on to gross $397 million at the worldwide box office.
Allan was later cast in Triton, directed by Janell Shirtcliff and filmed in Greece in early 2024. She has been reported to be attached to play Marianne Faithfull in a biographical film of the singer.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2017 | Bluebird | Caitlin | Short film | |
| 2017 | The Christmas Tree | Christmas tree girl | Short film | |
| 2017 | Captain Fierce | Linda | Short film | |
| 2021 | Gunpowder Milkshake | Young Sam | | |
| 2024 | Baghead | Iris | | |
| 2024 | Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes | Mae / Nova | | |
| | Triton | | | in post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2018 | Into the Badlands | Young Minerva | 1 episode |
| 2019 | The War of the Worlds | Mary | 1 episode |
| 2019–present | The Witcher | Ciri | Main role |
| 2020 | The Third Day | Kail | Miniseries; 5 episodes |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2021 | Saturn Awards | Best Performance by a Younger Actor on a TV Series | The Witcher | Nominated | |
| 2024 | Saturn Awards | Best Performance by a Younger Actor on a TV Series | The Witcher | Nominated | |