Andrea Vasiliou has seen her land roles across several major features and major streaming channel shows, but her love for acting began as a child. As a child to immigrant parents and fluent speaker of French, Spanish and Greek, Vasiliou has always admired stories highlighting ethnic minorities that resonate with her heritage.In her early years, Vasiliou trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, where she was scouted and cast by Christopher Nolan to play Young Catwoman in Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. This role catapulted her into portraying the strong women in film she seeks to bring to the scene, appearing in DC’s Wonder Woman and Justice League. She recently appeared in both Gran Turismo and FBI: International and also stunt doubled for Megan Le in The Beekeeper, Jason Statham’s newest blockbuster hit.
As both an Actor and a Stunt-person, how did you get into this career and which of the two do you prefer?
I started training as an actress from a young age, telling stories and connecting with other peoples’ has always been in the heart of what I do. I used to get lost in films growing up so I always knew I wanted to become an actress,
I got spotted by a talent agent in London in my early teens and would travel up from Devon for auditions. The stunts came much later, I had a call to audition for Wonder Woman to be one of the Amazonians and I hadn’t ever done any stunts before but after 4 rounds of auditions we were put into boot camp for 5 months and weapon training and that’s where I started to really enjoy martial arts and weaponry.
Acting is my first love but I always keep up the training so I can do my own stunts if the role demands it.
Your film credits include Wonder Woman and Krypton, are action movies your preferred genre?
I do love action it’s a real coincidence that I’ve worked on 4 DC comic movies but I’ve always been passionate about portraying strong female women on screen as I think it’s paramount to have young girls watch these kinds of roles on screen. It’s also fun doing fight choreography so i really love it. I choose to work on films that have a strong narrative and enjoy discovering the characters backstory and what drives their actions so it can be really fun to play with that on screen.
How do you prepare for a film role that is physically demanding?
I aim to train about 4-5 times a week if my schedule allows it but it’s really important for my mental health as well as my physical health. Long shoot days on set can be quite physically demanding, especially when you’re doing action so I kind of always prepare so it’s not a big change as sometimes the turnaround from casting to shooting can be quite quick. I mainly train in MMA and firearms, yoga, running. I like to mix it up and keep it interesting then I work with a trainer one on one to prepare for a role.
Dream Role in a Movie
Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde, she’s intelligent, stylish and a real badass
Hollywood or London
Hollywood, I love London, it’s always gunna be my home but I always get great energy when I’m in Hollywood, so many people creating there’s a real unique vibe that LA has that makes you not want to leave.
