Ayisha Issa

{{short description|Canadian actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Ayisha Issa | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1984|3|18}} | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | death_date =  | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Actress, martial arts practitioner | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Ayisha Issa''' (born 18 March 1984) is a Canadian actress and martial arts practitioner. She has played a number of roles in both English- and French-language television series and films, such as ''Dark Matter'', ''Unité 9'', and ''Brick Mansions''. She is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu who won at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships twice, once in 2010 as a white belt,<ref name=ibjjf2010>{{cite web |url=https://ibjjf.com/results/world-jiu-jitsu-championship-2010-results/ |publisher=International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation |title=World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2010 – Results |access-date=8 February 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008020021/https://ibjjf.com/results/world-jiu-jitsu-championship-2010-results/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and again in 2014 as a blue belt;<ref name=ibjjf2014>{{cite web |url=https://ibjjf.com/results/world-jiu-jitsu-championship-2014-results/ |publisher=International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation |title=World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2014 – Results |access-date=8 February 2020}}</ref> she currently holds the rank of brown belt and previously owned a dojo in Toronto.<ref name=naluda /> She also did voice acting for Ubisoft's ''Far Cry Primal'' and ''The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan'', which was developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, receiving a BAFTA Award for Performer in a Supporting Role nomination.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bafta.org/games/awards/bafta-games-awards-nominations-and-winners-2020 | title=2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners | date=3 March 2020 }}</ref>

In 2022, she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards, for her regular role as Dr. June Curtis in ''Transplant''.<ref>Greg David, [https://www.tv-eh.com/2022/04/07/tim-rozon-ayisha-issa-kaniehtiio-horn-and-tallboyz-win-during-night-4-of-the-2022-canadian-screen-awards/ "Tim Rozon, Ayisha Issa, Kaniehtiio Horn and Tallboyz win during Night 4 of the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards"]. ''TV, eh?'', April 7, 2022.</ref>

==Biography== Issa was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, growing up as an Anglophone on Montreal's West Island.<ref name=gazette /> She had a troubled childhood, and at one point lived in a group home.<ref name=gazette /> When she was 15, she was a client with the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, a local nonprofit assisting troubled youth.<ref name=gazette /> As a teenager, she suffered from depression, anxiety, and eating disorders,<ref name=gazette /> but despite this, she began working toward a modeling career, which proved to be unsuccessful, something she attributed to her athletic build.<ref name=thegamer>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegamer.com/interview-with-the-dark-pictures-anthology-man-of-medan-actress-ayisha-issa/ |title=Interview With The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan Actress Ayisha Issa |website=TheGamer.com |date=30 November 2019 |access-date=9 February 2020 |first=Jamie |last=Latour}}</ref> In her twenties, she worked as the assistant front-desk manager at a Montreal hotel before being fired.<ref name=gazette>{{cite news |url=https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/ayisha-issa-makes-a-mark-playing-bad-girl-in-unite-9 |title=Ayisha Issa makes a mark playing bad girl in Unité 9 |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |date=30 January 2014 |access-date=9 February 2020 |first=Brendan |last=Kelly}}</ref> Looking for a new career, she shifted her focus toward athletics, and after a brief time in kickboxing, began to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu.<ref name=thegamer /> By 2010, she had won the heavyweight adult female white belt (novice) category at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships.<ref name=ibjjf2010 /> Around this time, she landed a breakthrough role in a major picture, ''Immortals'' (2011), through old modeling connections.<ref name=thegamer /><ref name=naluda>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.naludamagazine.com/interview-with-talented-canadian-actress-ayisha-issa/ |title=Interview with talented Canadian Actress Ayisha Issa |date=10 December 2019 |access-date=9 February 2020 |magazine=Naluda Magazine}}</ref>

Her role in ''Immortals'' was followed immediately with a role in ''The Bait (L'Appât)'', a French-language buddy cop action comedy film where she plays a "kind of Ninja assassin" who pursues the main characters.<ref name=gazette /> Her television debut, in 2011, was a small role on the French-language series ''30 vies''. This was followed by a number of minor roles in English-language films like ''Warm Bodies'' and ''Betty and Coretta'' (both 2013), as well as ''Brick Mansions'' (2014), which was Paul Walker's penultimate film. In 2014 she landed a major role in the French-language television series ''Unité 9'' (fr), broadcast on Ici Radio-Canada Télé. Sometimes compared to ''Orange Is the New Black'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.afterellen.com/tv/214166-unite-9-is-frances-much-broodier-orange-is-the-new-black |title="Unite 9" is Canada's much broodier "Orange is the New Black" |first=Erika |last=Star |date=31 March 2014 |access-date=10 February 2020 |website=AfterEllen.com}}</ref> the series is also set in a women's prison. Issa played Bouba, a "mean piece of work who makes life a living hell for the other female prisoners."<ref name=gazette /> This role raised her profile considerably in Montréal and Québec.<ref name=gazette />

She won again at the 2014 International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships, this time competing as a heavyweight blue belt. She subsequently decided to withdraw from competition to focus on her acting career.<ref name=naluda />

In the latter half of the 2010s, she made a number of other appearances on English-language Canadian-produced television series such as ''12 Monkeys'' on Syfy in 2016, ''Dark Matter'' on Syfy and Space in 2017, and in 2019, ''Workin' Moms'' on CBC, ''Shadowhunters'' on ABC, and ''The Expanse'' on Amazon Prime Video. She also played roles in films such as ''The Hummingbird Project'' (2018) and ''Polar'' (2019). Issa also began venturing into videogame work, starting with voice acting for Ubisoft's ''Far Cry Primal'' (2016), which involved learning to speak lines in the developers' reconstructed version of Proto-Indo-European,<ref name=thegamer /> a hypothesized ancestor of the Indo-European languages. This was followed by motion-capture work for ''Assassin's Creed: Odyssey'' (2018), where she supplied the movements for many of the female characters.<ref name=thegamer /> Rounding out the decade, she played the role of Fliss, a boat captain, in the interactive drama survival horror videogame ''The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan'' (2019), which was developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Her most recent work is a role in the CTV series ''Transplant'', which is a medical drama set in Toronto. She was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Program or Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.<ref>Brent Furdyk, [https://web.archive.org/web/20220215130202/https://etcanada.com/news/867531/2022-canadian-screen-awards-nominees-announced/ "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack"]. ''ET Canada'', February 15, 2022.</ref>

She currently has a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu<ref name="naluda" /> and owns a dojo named 4Points in Toronto.<ref name=naluda />

==Filmography==

===Film===

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |2006 |''Cheech'' |One of Cheech's daughters | |- |2010 |data-sort-value="Bait, The" | ''The Bait (L'Appât)'' |Van Cleef | |- |2011 |''Who Is Simon Miller?'' |{{N/A}} |TV film; stunt double: Jasmine |- |2011 |''Immortals'' |High Priestess #4 | |- |2013 |''Warm Bodies'' |Athletic Woman | |- |2013 |''Betty and Coretta'' |Student with Question |TV film |- |2014 |''Brick Mansions'' |Rayzah | |- |2017 |''Eye on Juliet'' |Naomi | |- |2018 |data-sort-value="Hummingbird Project, The" | ''The Hummingbird Project'' |Ophelia Troller | |- |2018 |''All the Things'' |{{N/A}} |Short film; special thanks |- |2019 |''Polar'' |Jazmin | |- |2019 |''Dark Phoenix'' |{{N/A}} |Stunts |- |2024 |''Dark Match'' |Miss Behave | |}

===Television===

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |2011 |''30 vies'' |Clara |3 episodes |- |2013–17 |''Unité 9'' (fr) |Bouba |54 episodes |- |2016 |''12 Monkeys'' |Emissary |6 episodes |- |2017 |''Dark Matter'' |Solara Shockley |4 episodes |- |2019 |''Workin' Moms'' |Wendy |2 episodes |- |2019 |''Shadowhunters'' |Annaliese |Episode: "To the Night Children" |- |2019 |data-sort-value="Expanse, The" | ''The Expanse'' |Matar Kubileya Leader |Episode: "Retrograde" |- |2020 |''Transplant'' |Dr. June Curtis |Series regular |}

===Video games===

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |2016 |''Far Cry Primal'' |Jayma |Voice |- |2018 |''Assassin's Creed: Odyssey'' |{{N/A}} |Stunts |- |2019 |data-sort-value="Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, The" | ''The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan'' |Fliss |Voice |}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|2903364}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Issa, Ayisha}} Category:Living people Category:Actresses from Montreal Category:Canadian film actresses Category:Canadian female Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Category:Canadian stunt performers Category:Canadian video game actresses Category:Canadian voice actresses Category:Canadian television actresses Category:21st-century Canadian actresses Category:Black Canadian actresses Category:Canadian people of Ghanaian descent Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners