Hello,

I am Anne Akhila.

I am an actress working and living (& dancing & laughing) in Los Angeles.

Do you know how long it took me to finally be able to say "I'm an actress?"  A long time.  But, I'm here now.  And that's all that matters.

When I was about five years old, my mom (who is from south India & is a singer) saw that I had rhythm in my feet.  She had always wanted to learn Indian dance but the opportunity was never afforded to her.  So she immediately put me in Indian classical dance classes (called Bharatha Natyam).  And that really was the beginning of my life in the performing arts.  While I learned this centuries-old dance form, I also learned to sing from my mom and grandmother, who both performed Indian classical music (Carnatic style) and learned "western" music while in school.  And let's not forget Madonna, Duran Duran and U2 schooling me from the radio during every car trip growing up in New Jersey.  Learning dance was, for me, the hardest journey of all the performing arts I learned.  My guru, (the late) Mrs. Padmini Ramachandran, instilled a drive in me to work with discipline but also truly live each moment during a dance piece and convey that joy to the audience so that they can enjoy those moments with me.

Dance has given my life richness.  And improv gave my life soul.  Yeah, maybe it's the LA in me talking now, but I don't know who I would be without dance and improv.  I began doing improv in 2011 and it changed my brain forever.  You know the fire that goes off in your brain every time you have a thought?  Well improv makes your brain ELECTRIC.  When I moved to LA with my family a few years ago, I whizzed through the entire improv program at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre - all while winning four diversity scholarships!  Now, I'm learning character-based improv at The Groundlings and I am truly in my happy place.  I am so grateful to say, I was just awarded the NBCUniversal Scholarship to take Writing Lab at The Groundlings!  I perform improv with my team Tres Leches, do private coaching sessions with Groundlings performers and teachers and work on comedic sketches with other students and my sketch comedy/improv duo Jersey Deuce.  

Comedy has always felt natural to me and the dramatic element, scary.  I wanted formal training in acting and so I set off to acting school at The Baron Brown Studio.  I didn't know it when I started, but that training was going to transform not just my acting, but my whole being.  After graduating two years later, I felt confident to take on both comedic and dramatic roles.  I’m not studying acting at BGB Studio and learning more tools to add to my acting toolbox. With all of this education, I have no intention of stopping my learning.  I am in so deep and so happy!  

With love and great concentration,

Ann(i)e

"You can't fake being genuine, so be your true self."

-Anne Akhila (that's me!)