Acting
Nov 25, 2003
St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Asha Banks
Acting
Biography
Asha Banks is a British actress and singer based in London. Asha has extensive theatre credits, and has a lead part in her first feature film, The Magic Flute, released in November 2022. The film is a modern retelling of Mozart's popular opera, produced by Roland Emmerich's Centropolis Entertainment and Flute Film, and directed by Florian Sigl. Asha plays the female lead part of Princess Pamina. The movie also stars Iwan Rheon and Jack Wolfe and some of the world's most renowned opera stars. Asha recently played the part of Thea in London's 2021/22 critically acclaimed Olivier-nominated production of Spring Awakening at the Almeida Theatre directed by Rupert Goold. She was also the understudy for the lead role of Wendla and performed as Wendla a number of times. Asha made her professional acting debut at the age of 8 years old in the London West End show Les Miserables (at the Queen's Theatre, now the Sondheim Theatre). Since then she has played principal parts in a further six West End and UK productions. Asha worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 2019/20, when she portrayed the lead part of Lisa James in their musical production of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon directed by Gregory Doran, with a book by Mark Ravenhill, and music from pop partnership Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. Asha sings Lisa James' main musical ballad 'When Things Fall Apart" on the original cast album of the musical, released in 2020. Prior to this, Asha has played parts such as Violet Beauregarde in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Duffy in the UK tour of Annie the Musical directed by Nikolai Foster, and the Parsons Girl in the multi-award-winning and Olivier-nominated play 1984, directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan for the Almeida theatre, which then transferred to the Playhouse theatre, London, taking Asha with it. Asha also portrayed Pandora Braithwaite in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾ at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, for which she earned outstanding reviews. "Asha Banks gives a stellar performance" said The Times, and "Asha Banks on press night - very funny and a cracking singer, surely a future star" from London Timeout magazine while The Telegraph said she was "the perfect mix of poise, aloofness and vitality" and The Times called her performance "outstanding".
Feature Films (8)
A seventeen year old travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart's "The Magic Flute".
The Magic Flute
A group of late 19th century German teenagers – silenced and controlled by a censorious society – discover a new world of feeling and freedom outside the classroom, with beautiful and devastating consequences.
Almeida On Screen: Spring Awakening
Captivating documentary exploring the haunting world of Charles Dickens' supernatural tales through actor readings, archive footage and immersive visuals
Dickens: Phantoms and Fiction
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
My Fault: London
Nick and Noah are both embarking on life-changing adventures that are threatening to pull them apart—Nick in business with his father and Noah starting a fresh chapter at Oxford University. Now living separate lives, and meeting new people, they find themselves entangled in temptations, rivalries, and betrayals and their bond is tested like never before. As secrets unravel and temptation rises, they must fight to hold onto each other—or risk losing everything.
Your Fault: London
Television & Series (2)
The old DGM might have left Bannerman School, but their spirit remains, and there is still a need to get even, wrongs must be righted and injustice has to be fought.
Rebel Cheer Squad: A Get Even Series
Five years after the death of schoolgirl Andie Bell, Pippa Fitz-Amobi sets out to uncover what really happened to her. Sal Singh, Andie's boyfriend, admitted to the murder before taking his own life, but Pip doesn't believe he's responsible and teams up with Sal's brother Ravi to uncover the truth. If Sal Singh isn't a murderer and the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from finding out the truth?
