# Anya Chalotra

Anya Chalotra (born 1996 or 1997) is an English 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. She was also the lead in the 2024 video game Unknown 9: Awakening.

## Early life and education

Anya Chalotra was born in 1996 or 1997 in Wolverhampton, England, the daughter of an English mother and Indian father. Her father's ancestral home is located in Pathankot district in the state of Punjab in India.
Chalotra grew up in the village of Lower Penn with her parents, older sister, and younger brother. She attended St Dominic's Grammar School in Brewood.
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 followed by a three-year degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before she embarked on her professional career.

## Career

Chalotra has starred in several stage productions. 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, and subsequently earned acclaim for her roles in April De Angelis' The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2018, David Hare's Peter Gynt at the National Theatre in 2019, and Rupert Goold's stage adaptation of Cold War at the Almeida Theatre from 2023 to 2024.
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. 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, an adaptation of the fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski.
Chalotra stars in a leading role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in the Netflix fantasy drama The Witcher. She has featured in all three seasons released to 2023; the first season premiered on 20 December 2019, with the second following on 17 December 2021 and the third on 29 June 2023.
On 15 July 2020, it was announced that she would be headlining the voice cast of the sci-fi animation series New-Gen. 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 in London. She also voiced Sabrina in the 2020 BBC Sounds sci-fi podcast The Cipher, Agatha in the 2023 Audible mystery drama podcast Moriarty, Haroona in the 2024 action-adventure game Unknown 9: Awakening, and Circe in the 2024 animated series Creature Commandos.

## Recognition

Chalotra was listed as one of Screen Daily's Stars of Tomorrow 2020.
In 2024, she featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in European entertainment.

### Awards and nominations

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

## Filmography
### Film

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

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2018 | Wanderlust | Jennifer Ashman | Miniseries |
| 2018 | 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 | Twilight of the Gods | Sif (voice) | 3 episodes |
| 2024–present | Creature Commandos | Circe (voice) | |

### Theatre

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

### Podcasts

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2020–2021 | The Cipher | Sabrina (voice) |
| 2023 | Moriarty: The Silent Order | Agatha (voice) |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Note |
| 2024 | Unknown 9: Awakening | Haroona (voice) | Also likeness and mo-cap |