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- Height5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
- Natasha Mayet is an international actress, writer and producer born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. Her parents are of Pakistani and East Indian (Gujarati) heritage. Natasha had an interest in acting from a very young age, performing in several theater productions, including Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. Born of Pakistani and Indian parents who believed in the importance of higher education, she instead chose to complete her college education and went on to pursue a Masters degree, and even volunteered for the UN in Brazil, before she made the decision to become a full-time actress. After pursuing a workshop at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles which gained her a part in her first short film Already Over during one of her visits to the US, she decided to pursue acting full time upon her return to South Africa.
Natasha started her training in acting at Act Cape Town in South Africa and also studied with acting coach and casting director Bonnie Rodini. In her quest to find the acting studio and technique which allowed her to be her the best actress she could be, Natasha trained with a variety of acting schools, including Ivana Chubbuck's studio on Melrose, the Upright Citizen's Brigade, the late Stan Kirsch. After Los Angeles, she decided to pursue opportunities in Atlanta, GA, and her she enrolled at Anthony Meindl's studio in Atlanta, which became her second home, and where she has been studying since the past three years.
Her South African roles include her first role in feature film Bleeding Gospel directed by award-winning director Jacques Brown. The director was inspired by her dedication and eagerness to learn and invited her to visit the set of the movie. A few days later, she was called in to play a role that had been added to the film, where she would be playing a wife in a domestic violence situation. The film starred several other award-winning actors in South Africa such as Greg Kriek (Momentum, Black Mirror). From there on she went to be offered several other leading roles in South African productions, her next one being in the Dutoit brothers feature "Three Suspects", a crime drama, followed by Gary Green's Thieves. She also played a lead role in the pilot ,Apple Side of Life.
While in Los Angeles on her O1, Natasha filmed seven episodes on the television pilot Office Girls. Working with a mostly all-female cast and crew, Natasha played the lead role of the office manager Tazzy Lin, a seemingly meek woman who is also tough. The role was initially written for an Asian woman but when Natasha walked into the audition room, the director decided that she was the girl for the part. She also starred in Vincent Gomez's play "The Desperate Yogi" performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, taking on four of the lead female roles in the play. Her biggest break however, was in the feature film Trafficked starring Ashley Judd, where Natasha played a victim of human trafficking. The film received much acclaim and was shortlisted at the Sundance Screenwriters lab.
Her goal is to contribute to the diversity of women on screen, especially minorities such as Pakistani and East Indian women who until actresses like Priyanka Chopra come along, were not playing lead roles and often presented in a stereotypical manner on screen. She is also a filmmaker, and has produced several sci-if short films and an action feature, Silence Her. Her latest film, Contract, which focuses on women's issues, and is also her first script, will be released in 2020.
Her films have been also featured at local and international film festivals, such as the Bronz Lens film festival, Gentleman Jack Reel to Reel, Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival, and most recently at the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Festival. She has also been cast in several commercials, including for Cotsco, Home Depot, and most recently, for American Natural Gas. She hopes to continue working on films in US, South Africa, and also India and Pakistan, as well as continue to make her own projects.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Portia Leigh - Natasha Mayet is a South African actress, writer and award winning producer born in Karachi, Pakistan. Her ten year international acting career has included working as an actor in both South Africa and in the US. She is also the studio manager and an acting coach for Los Angeles acting studio, Anthony Meindl's Actor Workshop (AMAW) in Cape Town and hosts the Cape Town Squad International Film Festival.
Natasha had an interest in acting from a very young age and grew up performing in theater as well as taking dance and music lessons. However, growing up in Pakistan, she did not think of acting as a possibility for her. She instead chose to complete her college education at Bates College, graduating on the Deans List, and went on to pursue a Masters degree, and even volunteered for the UN in Brazil, before she made the decision to become a full-time actress. After pursuing a workshop at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles which gained her a part in her first short film Already Over during one of her visits to the US, she decided to pursue acting full time.
Natasha started her training in acting at Act Cape Town in South Africa and also studied with acting coach and casting director Bonnie Rodini. In her quest to find the acting studio and technique which allowed her to be her the best actress she could be, Natasha trained with a variety of acting schools, including Ivana Chubbuck's studio on Melrose, the Upright Citizen's Brigade, the late Stan Kirsch. After Los Angeles, she decided to pursue opportunities in Atlanta, GA, and her she enrolled at Anthony Meindl's studio in Atlanta. Here, she began to see herself grow as an actor. She spent three years at AMAW Atlanta before she was given the opportunity to complete AMAW's teacher training program and in 2020 she moved back to South Africa to start the AMAW acting studio community there, as AMAW Cape Town. She currently manages the studio in Cape Town and serves as an acting coach.
One of her career highlights was appearing in the feature film Trafficked starring Ashley Judd, where Natasha played a victim of human trafficking. The film received much acclaim and was shortlisted at the Sundance Screenwriters lab. She is also a filmmaker, and has produced several sci-if shorts. Her films have been also featured at local and international film festivals, such as the Bronz Lens film festival, Gentleman Jack Reel to Reel, Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival, and most recently at the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Festival. She has also been cast in several commercials for the US, Canada and worldwide. In 2021, Natasha was nominated as Best Female Filmmaker in Los Angeles for her short film "Last Laughter Guru." She can currently be seen on UNSEEN, which was recently in the top ten shows on Netflix.
Natasha also acts as a host and judge for the Cape Town Squad International Film Festival, which is a film festival held in Cape Town and screens the best short films from all around the world. This is part of her goal to give a platform to indie filmmakers and promote diversity in film.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Author
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