BIO

On Valentine's Day, I was born in Rotterdam, Holland. We are a bit of a nomad family. My parents immigrated from China, met in Europe and started their family in the Netherlands. We moved about 8 or 10 times in our childhood. We are with four siblings. Two girls, two boys. 

You could find me in any spare moment at the cinemas. For I was madly in love with films. I loved disappearing in these imaginary worlds onscreen and the feeling of seeing myself in these people in them. Crying and laughing along with them. From age 14 I knew I wanted to be an actress. My heart fell in love with this beautiful craft. And I have been in love ever since. 

I attended the film actors academy in Amsterdam, aka faaam. It's where I started to learn the craft of acting. And embraced the beautiful mix of being similtaneously terrified and in the midst of that having the willingness to bare one's soul for people to watch (OMG that sounds awful actually haha). I truly enjoy acting and have so much fun doing it. It’s play. 

Since I've also fallen deeply in love with theatre. I studied at LAMDA, London academy for music and dramatic arts, to explore this beautiful form of storytelling. The relationship between player and live audience is a special one. The energy of the audience helps create the moment. It's a gift and a privilege for the actor to be able to play with that energy. One can only hope you give that energy right back to them through your play. 

I love it when I disappear in a story, a character, an emotion, as the audience or as an actor. I love telling a story. I love how it connects people. Sharing them with each other is a beautiful ritual. It's what connects us, brings us closer together. We share stories on a daily basis, almost moment to moment. It connect us in our shared humanity. Storytelling is the most powerful, to me, when it not only touches our hearts but also changes us. Opens something in us that makes us see life differently in such a big way that it changes the way we think, see and live. 

I'm An-na. I am a storyteller.