Asha Banks (b. 2003)
Alias:
Asha Alice Banks
Birthplace:
St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Born:
November 26, 2003
Asha Banks is a young 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".