Marisa Abela

Marisa Gabrielle Abela (born 7 December 1996 in Brighton, East Sussex, England) is a British actress whose rapid ascent has made her one of the most compelling talents of her generation. Raised in the seaside suburb of Rottingdean by actress Caroline Gruber and director Angelo Abela, she inherited a blend of Maltese, Libyan, and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage that enriches her cultural perspective. After an early split of her parents when she was four, she earned a drama scholarship to Roedean School and honed her craft in the Theatre Workshop before briefly considering a career in human‑rights law at University College London. A last‑minute decision to pursue acting led her to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she graduated in 2019, having already appeared at age eleven as Alice in the 2008 thriller Man in a Box. Abela’s breakthrough arrived with the BBC Two and HBO series Industry (2020–present), where her portrayal of ambitious investment banker Yasmin Kara‑Hanani earned critical praise and a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Her performance was described as the true star of season three by the London Evening Standard, highlighting her ability to convey both vulnerability and steel. She also contributed to the political thriller COBRA (2020) and appeared in films such as She Is Love and Rogue Agent (2022), before taking a supporting role as Teen Talk Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023). In 2024 she embodied the legendary singer Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor‑Johnson’s biopic Back to Black, a role that garnered unanimous acclaim for her intensely physical and emotionally nuanced performance. Critics from The Guardian to Deadline Hollywood praised her capacity to capture Winehouse’s fragility, intelligence and cornered‑wildcat self‑destructiveness. The following year she joined Steven Soderbergh’s spy drama Black Bag alongside Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. Recognized as a 2023 Screen International Star of Tomorrow and a nominee for the BAFTA Rising Star Award, Marisa Abela continues to expand her repertoire while navigating personal challenges, including a 2020 thyroid cancer diagnosis and her marriage to West End actor Jamie Bogyo in 2025.