Ayisha Issa

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Ayisha Issa is a Canadian actress and martial arts practitioner born 18 March 1984 in

blue belt;[2] she currently holds the rank of brown belt and owned a dojo in Toronto.[3] She also did voice acting for Ubisoft's Far Cry Primal and The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, which was developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, receiving a BAFTA Award for Performer in a Supporting Role nomination.[4]

In 2022 she won the

Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards, for her regular role as Dr. June Curtis in Transplant.[5]

Biography

Issa was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, growing up as an Anglophone on Montreal's West Island.[6] She had a troubled childhood, and at one point lived in a group home.[6] When she was 15, she was a client with the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, a local nonprofit assisting troubled youth.[6] As a teenager, she suffered from depression, anxiety, and eating disorders,[6] but despite this, she began working toward a modeling career, which proved to be unsuccessful, something she attributed to her athletic build.[7] In her twenties, she worked as the assistant front-desk manager at a Montreal hotel before being fired.[6] Looking for a new career, she shifted her focus toward athletics, and after a brief time in kickboxing, began to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu.[7] By 2010, she had won the heavyweight adult female white belt (novice) category at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships.[1] Around this time, she landed a breakthrough role in a major picture, Immortals (2011), through old modeling connections.[7][3]

Her role in Immortals was followed immediately with a role in

Betty and Coretta (both 2013), as well as Brick Mansions (2014), which was Paul Walker's penultimate film. In 2014 she landed a major role in the French-language television series Unité 9 (fr), broadcast on Ici Radio-Canada Télé. Sometimes compared to Orange Is the New Black,[8] the series is also set in a women's prison. Issa played Bouba, a "mean piece of work who makes life a living hell for the other female prisoners."[6] This role raised her profile considerably in Montréal and Québec.[6]

She won again at the 2014 International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships, this time competing as a heavyweight blue belt. She subsequently decided to withdraw from competition to focus on her acting career.[3]

In the latter half of the 2010s, she made a number of other appearances on English-language Canadian-produced television series such as

interactive drama survival horror videogame The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (2019), which was developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment
.

Her most recent work is a role in the

Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Program or Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.[9]

She currently has a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu[3] and owns a dojo named 4Points in Toronto.[3]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role
2006 Cheech One of Cheech's daughters
2010 L'appât (fr) Van Cleef
2011 Who Is Simon Miller? (Stunt double: Jasmine)
2011 Immortals High Priestess #4
2013 Warm Bodies Athletic Woman
2013
Betty and Coretta
 		Student with Question
2014 Brick Mansions Rayzah
2017 Eye on Juliet Naomi
2018 The Hummingbird Project Ophelia Troller
2018 All the Things (short film) (Special thanks)
2019 Polar Jazmin
2019 Dark Phoenix (Stunts)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2011 30 vies Clara 3 episodes
2013–17 Unité 9 (fr) Bouba 54 episodes
2016 12 Monkeys Emissary 6 episodes
2017 Dark Matter Solara Shockley 4 episodes
2019 Workin' Moms Wendy 2 episodes
2019 Shadowhunters Annaliese Episode: "To the Night Children"
2019 The Expanse Matar Kubileya Leader Episode: "Retrograde"
2020 Transplant Dr. June Curtis Series regular

Video games

Year Title Role Note
2016 Far Cry Primal Jayma Voice
2018
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
 		Stunts
2019
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan
 		Fliss Voice

References

  1. ^ a b "World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2010 – Results". International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  2. ^ "World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2014 – Results". International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Interview with talented Canadian Actress Ayisha Issa". Naluda Magazine. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  4. ^ "2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". 3 March 2020.
  5. ^ Greg David, "Tim Rozon, Ayisha Issa, Kaniehtiio Horn and Tallboyz win during Night 4 of the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards". TV, eh?, April 7, 2022.
  6. ^
    Montreal Gazette
    . Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d e Latour, Jamie (30 November 2019). "Interview With The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan Actress Ayisha Issa". TheGamer.com. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  8. ^ Star, Erika (31 March 2014). ""Unite 9" is Canada's much broodier "Orange is the New Black"". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  9. ET Canada
    , February 15, 2022.

External links

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