We begin the first day of 2024 with the fifth iteration spotlighting truly fantastic SWANASA (South West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia) actors that you should know, whether they are well known or not. What they have in common is that not only are they are all incredible artists but they are also wonderful human beings that have come to our attention recently in their art and advocacy. Here are the eight you should know:
Cynthia Yelle is a half Lebanese half French actress. who started acting at a young age in Beirut, Lebanon at a theatre company there. By the time she turned 17, she went on to drama conservatory in Paris and started doing plays. Her coach and director encouraged her to go to the U.S. and do film since she fluently spoke English. There, she would visit Los Angeles and New York often to research and would crash classes while asking student filmmakers to let her hang out on set and teach her about equipment. Because she wasn’t allowed to work, she auditioned for student films and did that every time she visited LA and NY as a tourist. At the time, she was still living in France and performing there. In 2015, she started her Artist visa and after mountains of paperwork, she was approved.
It was from here that Yelle went on to audition for indie films and plays and all her auditions came through word of mouth from artists that she had already worked with. During this time, she did about four plays in LA at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and she got her Green Card at the end of 2018. This is when she officially packed my bags and moved to LA for good. During the pandemic she signed with an agent and in 2021 she booked a recurring guest on a Netflix series called MO.
Happiness is the essential building block for Cynthia with the other important components being true contentment, serene mental health, and inner joy with what she is doing regardless of status and money. For her, happiness is in the creation. It was also during the pandemic, she got her American citizenship. Cynthia is currently living in LA now and despite having gone through an excruciating time these past 18 months, she is constantly growing and learning about herself, her craft, and the people around her.
Adam Bakri is a Palestinian actor who hails from a family of artists; he is the son of Mohammad Bakri, brother of Saleh Bakri and Ziad Bakri. After completing a bachelor’s degree in English literature and Theater arts at Tel Aviv University, he trained at New York’s Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. He studied English Literature and Theater Arts and graduated from New York’s Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
His first feature film was 2013 Oscar nominee Omar, by Hany Abu-Assad, for which he was awarded Best Actor at Malmo Arab Film Festival and was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor at Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Also, he was nominated for Best Actor at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival for his role in the film Slam.
Adam co-starred with Keira Knightley in the film Official Secrets, for which he was nominated for Best Screen Couple (shared with Keira Knightley) at Women Film Critics Circle Awards. Bakri’s most recent work is the sci-fi series Hell’s Gate, which is now screening on Shahid platform, marking his first role in a series.
Sharmita Bhattacharya was born and raised in the greater Houston area. Her draw to the arts started from a young age in the form of dance and music. She moved to Austin to study at the University of Texas at Austin, and it was there where she discovered her love for acting. She continued her education while testing her new found interest by dabbling with short films, introductory acting courses, and modeling gigs in her free time. Shortly after graduating, she dived into furthering her career by studying the Meisner Technique under acting coach, Laurel Vouvray, and gaining representation with Collier Talent Agency. She continues to study under Laurel in her advanced scene study and character building class while taking workshops with other coaches to further expand her knowledge of the art.
Since graduating, Sharmita has been working hard to hone her craft, make connections, and attempt challenging roles, characters, and projects. Some of her notable opportunities to date have been co-starring in the ABC pilot episode of Shonda Rhime’s newest TV-series, The Catch, as well as playing the leading role in the narrative based music video for the popular pop punk band, The Wonder Years. She will also be heard in the video game Shadow Warrior 2, as the voice of the leading girl character — Kamiko.
Sharmita’s passion for acting and her love of experiencing new things, make her career a huge part of her life. She continues to grow from learning about her different characters, hearing the stories of the people around her, and relating with the strong energy of motivated people in the arts. She loves what she does and enjoys being inspired by the people around her.
Aly Mawji is an accomplished actor, noted for his comedic timing in his roles for television shows. Mawji began his acting career playing characters on a variety of series including Grey’s Anatomy (2005-), Medium (2005-2011), and Accidentally on Purpose (CBS, 2009-2010). He also appeared in Castle (ABC, 2009-2016). He continued to work steadily in television throughout the early 2000s and the 2010s, appearing on Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), Rizzoli & Isles (TNT, 2010-16), and Switched at Birth (Freeform, 2011-17). Recently, he tackled roles on Silicon Valley (HBO, 2014-) and Loosely Exactly Nicole (2016-). He also appeared in the Parker Croft drama Falling Overnight (2012). Mawji most recently acted in the Michael Peña action flick CHiPs (2017).
Off-screen, Mawji has been involved with non-profits Unusual Suspects, BookPALS, and Young Storytellers. He’s a nationally certified personal trainer and enjoys making music, writing, painting and traveling. In 2005, he traveled to Thailand with an NGO to help rebuild a small town called Khao Lak after the Tsunami. He made his first trip to India in 2009. But the trip he is most proud of is his honeymoon to Tanzania where he somehow convinced his wife that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro (elev. 19,341′) would be a romantic getaway. They successfully summited (ahem!), are happily married, and now have a little boy.
Anna Khaja is a Pakistani and Indian American actress and writer. She is best known for her recurring roles as Manisha on NBC’s The Good Place, Indira on AMC’s The Walking Dead World Beyond, and as Rachel on Silicon Valley.
In 2022, Anna starred as Jaya in the Netflix feature film Definition Please, written and directed by Sujata Day and produced by Ava DuVernay. In 2015, she booked the role of Sita Parrish on Quantico. She recurs on The Good Place, For the People, Madam Secretary, and Lethal Weapon.
In the world of theatre, Anna is also an award-winning playwright and solo performer. Her play Shaheed: The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto had an extended Off-Broadway run in NYC. … Time Out called her performance “a wonder,” the NY Times praised her as a “gifted actress,” and Backstage said the play was “heart-stopping, engrossing, funny, and profound theatre.” Edge Magazine said Shaheed was “a one-woman triumph, and a testament to Khaja’s talent, capacity and gifts, of which Hollywood must take full notice.”
In Los Angeles, Anna is the winner of the Ovation Award for Lead Actress in a play, and a five-time Ovation nominee. She also won the LA Weekly Award for Best Solo Performance. She is also the recipient of the Google x Black List Storytelling Fellowship, a Sundance Lab alum, and was selected for the Mentorship Matters TV Writers program. In 2023, she became the winner of Screencraft’s Pilot writing contest, when her pilot What Doesn’t Kill Me was selected out of 3,500 pilot submissions.
Saman Hasan was born on August 7 in Quetta, Pakistan. She is an actress, and currently resides in NYC. Saman grew up in Dhahran Saudi Arabia and continued her education in Bahrain. She was later trained as an actor at the William Esper Studio along with other studios in NYC.
She is known for Lifetime Network films like How To Live Your Best Death and various independent features.
Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier is a seasoned actor, writer, producer who has over 27 years of experience working in theatre, film and television. Born in India and raised in the US since she was a baby, Kavi was inspired to act at 5, by the little Indian girl at the end of The Jungle Book, and inspired to produce because she saw so few people that looked like her on the screen. Expanding the narrative about women in all of their womanity, is part of her mission.
Kavi is currently recurring on her second season of CBS’ top rated franchise NCIS: LA as Reserve Agent Shyla Dahr. She was also last seen as Reena on The Sex Lives of College Girls for HBO Max. Kavi stars in the Award Winning one woman movie Now and Never which she produced with her company Art Heart Love Productions. Kavi produced and stars in the feature film East Bay which also stars Constance Wu. Both films are currently having a vibrant festival run. Kavi also received rave reviews for her Off-Broadway, sexy, smart performance opposite Sendhill Ramamurthy in Hatef*ck.
Kavi is about to produce the feature The 8th Year, a revenge thriller to be shot in Vancouver Q1 of 2023, is a creative producer/actor on a feature film in development with PoC Studios (People of Culture), and writing a short film with TV legend and her NCIS: LA co-star Gerald McCraney which she will also co-produce and co-direct. She co-produced and starred in the feature Boris and the Bomb, currently on Tubi/Prime/IMDB TV and in addition to film has produced children’s theatre, a PSA for the US Census and a campaign video for Thevi Cosmetics.
Addie Nofal is a Palestinian and Mexican voice actor based in Chicago, Illinois. Her voiceover experience has been in podcasts, animation, video games, and more! Most notably, she can be heard as Goli and Reina in Genshin Impact, Sirare in Black Desert Online, and Elsie in My Time At Sandrock.
