Naya Naskovich is an actress and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, New York, Zurich and Moscow, and is of Swiss and Serbian background. She holds a Master's degree in German and Slavic Linguistics and Literature, and is fluent in five languages. She has worked as a teacher and a researcher, and published a book about the madness of heroes in Mediaeval Literature Studies in 2013. She also holds a certificate in Gastronomy Management, and was the owner of a trendy cocktail bar in Lucerne, Switzerland for many years.
She made her stage debut at the age of six in an adaptation of "The Jungle Book" in her hometown of Lucerne. Since then, she has worked on numerous stages throughout Switzerland. Some of the highlights of her career include productions of "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Emil and the Detectives" at the City Theatre of Lucerne (Luzerner Theater), which garnered rave revues nationwide. She also starred as 'Laurie Saunders' in "The Wave" at the Treibhaus stage, and was seen in the critically acclaimed "Moby Dick" at the Gessnerallee in Zurich.
Naya has studied with many esteemed acting teachers in Switzerland, including Mira Sack at the Zurich University of the Arts. She then relocated to Los Angeles to continue her training, and to pursue her career in television and film. She studied at The Lee Strasberg Institute in Hollywood with such magnificent teachers as David Strasberg (Lee Strasberg's son), Sharon Angela and MJ Karmi. Afterwards she graduated from The Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory, studying with many well-known teachers, including Martin Thompson, Ilia Volok, Peter Frisch and Andrew Wood. On the peak of her theatrical education she studied at the world famous Moscow Art Theatre, where she felt very inspired especially by her teacher Aleksey Rozin.
She recently appeared in several films, including "Adolescence" directed by Ashley Avis, "If I Could Tell You" directed by the Clyde brothers, and the TV series "Training Day" created by Will Beall. She can also be seen in several comedy sketches, music videos and commercials. Naya returned to the stage in "Reservoir Bitches", a theatrical adaptation of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs with an all-female cast at TreStage in Hollywood. Next to acting, she has made herself a name as a serious filmmaker when she wrote, directed and co-produced films like "The Outside" and "Power Play". Her latest arrival is the socio-critical documentary "Rootlessness", which is in the making.
