Serena Walia

Serena Walia is an Indian film actor and stage actor best known for her unconventional character choices. Born in Delhi, to a Punjabi family, her mother is a retired teacher, and her father is a retired army officer who runs his own marketing consultancy. As an army kid her schooling happened all over the country. She completed her undergraduate degree in Bachelors of Business Administration from Symbiosis, Pune. After graduating, Serena worked with Edelweiss Capital but quickly realized that it was her calling to be a performer. She worked as an intern with Manav Kaul's group for one and a half years and started with playing parts in Mamtaz Bhai Patangwale, Swanand Kirkire's Ao Saathi Sapna Dekhein and Akvarious' Peter Pan. Her performance as the nurse in Manish Gandhi's Limbo drew the attention of several commentators. Serena continued to act in sold out theatre productions including A Kind Of True Story with Actor's Cult and Unselfed with The Company Theatre, Orphans by Dennis Kelly, Open Cast with Kumud Mishra's D for Drama. Serena made her feature film debut in 2019, playing the mysterious protagonist in Kumar Rituraj's sci-fi drama Khudbudi. It was screened at NFDC in 2019; the role garnered her rave reviews. Her short film has travelled to prestigious film festivals including the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, International Film Festival of South Asia and won the Best Indian Narrative Short at Kashish Film Festival (Aarti Neharsh's The Song We Sang). Serena's filmography also includes culture defining music videos such as As We Keep Searchings's Rooh, which documents the emotional ups and downs of a relationship brought about by fate. She is also sought after by brands thanks to her ingenuity and fresh look. Serena has made her presence widely felt in prominent roles on the web as well, across major online streaming platforms, including the romantic comedy created by Pradeep Sarkar, Cold Lassi and Chicken Masala (Alt Balaji and Zee 5) and Lov Pathak's episode of Parchayee based on Ruskin Bond's ghost stories (Zee 5). She currently lives in Mumbai. (29th August, 2020)