Biography

Cheryl Kanekar is a Los Angeles-based actor, screenwriter and film-maker, with improv comedy & musical improv training from Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade. Her focus is comedy and character acting.

She's booked principal roles in "John McEnroe Does VO" (Netflix Squarespace), "Star-Crossed" with Kasey Musgraves (Anonymous Content), the award-winning "American Legacy" series (Greater & Grander Productions), etc. She recently wrote & performed a comedy sketch for the Failed Disney Pitches series (Greater & Grander Prodns), and created a play with songs and dancing with 3 other actors in 5 hours in a show called The Matinee, concluding in a live stage performance.

She has voice acted in animated comedy, audio drama, video games, improvised VR simulations, e-learning, commercials, etc. for Bang Zoom Studios, Rebel Girls, Astra Zeneca, Google Streetview, HSBC Bank, World Food Programme, Samaritans UK, Vast Horizons, Mursion, etc.

She is also a comedy screenwriter. Her screenplays have made the shortlist and finals of BBC's Comedy Room and the quarter-finals & second rounds at the Austin Film Festival, Academy Nicholl Fellowship, Scriptapalooza, IFilm Festival, etc. She has written and directed films and web series that have played at many film festivals worldwide, including the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, FIFI Brussels, Reelworld, Raindance East, PBS, and others.

She is of Indian (South Asian) origin and grew up in the city of Mumbai, India, where she worked in the film industry as a writer, assistant director and field producer. She moved to the US to get an M.A. in TV, Film & New Media at the School of Theater, TV & Film, San Diego State University, and continued to work as a screenwriter, director and video editor.

She speaks Hindi, Urdu, Marathi and Konkani fluently, does various Indian accents, sings, dances, plays the flute and composes flute songs.

She is represented by MJB Talent Agency (film/tv), Dangerfield Talent Agency (commercial), Arlene Thornton & Associates & VoiceFox UK (voice) and British Talent Agency (international).
- IMDb mini biography by: Cheryl Kanekar