Shannon Esra
Encyclopedia
Early career
Esra had her first "taste" of acting at age 4, narrating a nursery schoolNursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
concert. She later did impersonations of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
at local talent contests.
Esra had her first professional acting at the age of 16, when she appeared in the film I Dreamed of Africa
I Dreamed of Africa
I Dreamed of Africa is a 2000 film starring Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez, Eve Marie Saint, Garrett Strommen, Liam Aiken and Daniel Craig. It is based on the autobiographical novel I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann, an Italian writer who moved to Kenya and became involved in conservation work...
(starring Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
), playing a character named Siri. She later studied Dramatic Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
receiving her BA (Hons) Degree
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 2003.
She won a Naledi Award for Best Performance by a Newcomer/Breakthrough (Female), in Dorothy Ann Gould's theatre production Japes for her portrayal of Neets. She also received a Fleur du Cap nomination for this role.
Other stage productions included the three-woman comedy Six Inches (2003) written and directed by Kristy Suttner, as well as the cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
Homebound in 2004.
Screen roles
Esra made BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
history with her recent portrayal of Stephanie in the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love by being one of the first caucasian
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
actresses in a lead role. Dying her hair blonde and speaking in an American
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
, Esra' plays a Canadian who travels to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to stop her boyfriend (played by Kushal Punjabi
Kushal Punjabi
Kushal Punjabi is an Indian film and television actor, who won the TV reality game show, Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout, the Indian version of internationally popular "Wipeout" in February 2011, taking home the prize of 5 million.-Early life and family:...
) from marrying.
In 2005 she guest-starred alongside Eric Stoltz
Eric Stoltz
Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...
, playing his estranged and embittered ex-wife, in the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
's miniseries The Triangle
The Triangle (miniseries)
The Triangle is a three part US-British-German science fiction miniseries concerning the Bermuda Triangle, which first aired on Sci-Fi Channel in the US December 5 - December 7, 2005. It was written by Dean Devlin, Bryan Singer and Rockne S. O'Bannon, directed by Craig R...
. She also played the romantic lead Katie in Darrell Roodt
Darrell Roodt
Darrell Roodt is a South African film director, screenwriter and producer.His film Sarafina was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Awards:...
's film about rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, Number 10.
In 2005 Esra played the lead role of Caz O’Donough, an undercover police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
, in the gritty South African psychological thriller / police drama Snitch. Caz is a 20-year-old single mother, finding out that the father of her daughter, Lawrence Carter, is a member of a mafia-style crime family that her "tough cop" father Chisel, has been trying to bring down.
She currently appears in Tim Greene's
Timothy Greene
Timothy John Greene is a South African actor, film director, and writer. He is also known as Tim Greene and cited under that name in most articles about him.-The making of Boy called Twist:...
multiple South African Film & Television Award winning newsroom drama Hard Copy, as the ambitious investigative journalist
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
Kim Smollen. Kim is a Jewish girl in her mid-20's who started as the entertainment reporter at the hard edged newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
The Bulletin. In the third season Kim is given the opportunity for "serious" reporting, at the now re-invented sleazy tabloid The Bullet.
Selected Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Life Is Wild Life Is Wild Life Is Wild is an American television serial drama adapted by Michael Rauch, George Faber and Charlie Pattinson from the popular British drama Wild at Heart. The show is about a New York veterinarian who moves his second wife and their two sets of children to a South African game reserve run by... |
Lauren | Recurring Character on The CW series |
| 2007 | Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love | Stephanie | One of the first caucasian White people White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin... actress to have a lead in a Bollywood Bollywood Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing... film Film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects... |
| 2006 | Number 10 | Katie | |
| 2005 | The Triangle (miniseries) The Triangle (miniseries) The Triangle is a three part US-British-German science fiction miniseries concerning the Bermuda Triangle, which first aired on Sci-Fi Channel in the US December 5 - December 7, 2005. It was written by Dean Devlin, Bryan Singer and Rockne S. O'Bannon, directed by Craig R... |
Sally | TV miniseries on the Sci Fi Channel Sci Fi Channel (United States) Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a... |
| 2000 | I Dreamed of Africa I Dreamed of Africa I Dreamed of Africa is a 2000 film starring Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez, Eve Marie Saint, Garrett Strommen, Liam Aiken and Daniel Craig. It is based on the autobiographical novel I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann, an Italian writer who moved to Kenya and became involved in conservation work... |
Siri |
Selected South African Television Biography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Hard Copy | Kim Smollen | Currently season 3 |
| 2006 | Snitch | Caz O’Donough | |
| 2004 | Isidingo | Yvette Meyer | |
| 2004 | Yizo Yizo 3 |
Personal life
Esra lives in SandtonSandton, Gauteng
Sandton is a wealthy area situated within the metro of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. The name comes from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston...
with her parents and younger brother. She is a "closet fan" of competitive ping-pong competitions.