Lisa Hayley Ambalavanar is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Alia Hanif in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' (2018–2019) and Mia in the

iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' The A List'' (2018–present).

Early life

Ambalavanar was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. She is of English and Sri Lankan heritage. She trained for one year at the

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, cul ...

(LIPA) on the Performing Arts Diploma (Dance) course. Her cousins are Chris Bishay and Mike Bishay.

Career

Ambalavanar made her professional debut in an episode of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

series '' Home Time'' in 2009, appearing as a shop assistant. She then made appearances in projects including short film ''Coffee'' (2011) and films ''The Stuff of Legend'' (2015) and ''Like Living'' (2016). Ambalavanar has also starred in various stage productions, including ''Painkillers'' (2014) and ''

Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno a ...

'' (2016). For her performance in ''Singin' in the Rain'', Philip Lowe of ''East Midlands Theatre'' wrote that she "lights up the stage with her attractive personality, her comic timing and some beautifully sung numbers". In 2018, she was cast in the

daytime soap opera ''

''. She made her debut appearance as Alia Hanif on 7 February 2018; Alia was played by Mandy Thandi prior to Ambalavanar taking over the role. Later that year, she began appearing in the

and

series '' The A List'' in the main role of Mia. In 2019, she made an appearance in a production of ''

A View from the Bridge ''A View from the Bridge'' is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with '' A Memory of Two Mondays'' at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, ...

'', in which she was described as "forthright, headstrong and full of energy" by Julie Bayley of '' Derbyshire Live''. Later that year, she portrayed the role of Fairy Wiseheart in a production of ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

''. Starting in 2022, she appears as

Jinx A jinx (also jynx), in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck. Examples of "jinxing" in the 21st-century press include the suggestion a ship might be "jinxed". The connection was made wi ...

in season 4 of ''

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

'' on

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

. In 2023, she starred as Emily Young in the 2023 horror comedy film ''Slotherhouse''.

Filmography

Stage

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ambalavanar, Lisa Living people Alumni of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts 21st-century English actresses English people of Sri Lankan descent English soap opera actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Actresses from Derby Year of birth missing (living people)