Almeera Jiwa
Almeera Jiwa is a film and stage actress. Born and raised in Vancouver, BC., Almeera knew from a young age that she wanted to pursue a career in the arts. At the age of five, she started writing and performing plays with her cousins, then began doing community and school theatre shortly after. Almeera has fond memories of this time that would shape the future of her career. She still considers one of her favorite childhood roles to be playing Tinkerbell in a musical version of "Peter Pan".
At the age of 12, Almeera booked her first TV role on a children's program where she had to write and perform a story for a live audience. The opportunity led to interest from local talent agents who encouraged Almeera to continue acting. Almeera signed her first agent and booked the lead in her first movie titled "Soulstice" at the age of 17. As a senior in high school planning her post-secondary career, Almeera was torn between her interest in acting school and business school. She sought out and received some excellent advice from her cousin to follow her passion first. With the support of her family, Almeera auditioned for and was accepted into Vancouver's prestigious Studio 58 theatre training conservatory. The instructors nurtured her creativity and offered her a unique training opportunity in both directing and acting. This propelled her on a journey in the arts that would enable her to tell stories as an actress, director, and producer. Upon completing Studio 58's rigorous three-year program, Almeera played lead and ingenue roles in some of Vancouver's largest theatre companies, she was cast in major network television shows, and she produced major performances and productions around the city, including at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
In 2011, Almeera moved to Atlanta to continue building her acting career in the city's thriving film industry as well as traveling to Vancouver for work at times.
An award-winning actress, Almeera has been seen in Nickelodeon's "Romeo" and "The Troop", USA Networks' "Psych", SYFY's "Sanctuary" and FOX's "Star". Most recently, Almeera played the role of Anam in the feature film "Shaft" opposite the legend Samuel L. Jackson.