Anna Bogomazova, known professionally as Anya Zova (born 7 April 1990), is a comedian, actress and professional athlete, born in the Soviet Union and raised by a Ukrainian mother and Russian father. She worked in the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

competing in their

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

NXT Wrestling NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin ...

, under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Anya. She is a founder of Acting School Miami Anya Zova and author of Zova's acting technique. Bogomazova graduated law school and won the Kickboxing World Cup in 2011. In 2020, Bogomazova made her debut on US television in the sitcom '' Brooklyn Nine Nine'' and TV series ''MacGyver''. In April 2022, she toured the US with her own comedy show, "Make Laughs Not War," in support of Ukraine and uniting people.

Early life

Bogomazova was born on 7 April 1990 in

Voronezh, Russia Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River (Russia), Don River. ...

. At the age of 5 she took up

calisthenics Calisthenics (American English) or callisthenics (British English) ( /ˌkælɪsˈθɛnɪks/) is a form of strength training consisting of a variety of movements that exercise large muscle groups (gross motor movements), such as standing, graspi ...

, which she studied for seven years. Her parents insisted that she should quit because of her height. From 2003 till 2004, Anna played

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. At the age of 14 she took up

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

. Her styles consist of kickboxing and

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

. She eventually earned her black belt in taekwondo. She graduated from the Voronezh Cooperative Institute and

Voronezh State University Voronezh State University is one of the main universities in Central Russia, located in the city of Voronezh. The university was established in 1918 by professors evacuated from the University of Tartu in Estonia. The university has 18 faculties ...

with the qualifications of a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and a

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

in the field of professional communications.

Martial arts career

Kickboxing

Bogomazova began her career in competitive kickboxing in 2004 with Aleksei Dedov as her coach. She has placed second in the Kickboxing World Championship in 2006 and 2008. She has also placed first in the Kickboxing Russian Championship in 2008 and the Kickboxing World Cup in 2011. From 2006 through 2010 Anna was trained by legendary coach Fuad Farziev. Since November 2010, she has been training in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2012–2013)

In August 2012, Bogomazova signed a developmental contract with

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

and was assigned to its developmental territory NXT Wrestling (NXT). In early 2013, she broke her arm during a training session which she claimed lead to being released from her developmental contract on May 17, 2013. She plans on suing WWE for injury and extra for damages due to having two surgeries and now she has a scar on her hand. Bogomazova filed suit against Steve Keirn Inc. and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. d/b/a Florida Championship Wrestling in Hillsborough County, Florida Circuit Court on March 8, 2017, claiming that the defendants did not properly train other amateur wrestlers, who ran into plaintiff while she warmed-up. On June 23, 2017, the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed.

Television

Her first TV role was playing Anna Rubov in the sitcom Brooklyn Nine Nine (NBC Network) in their Season 7, Episode 6, which aired on March 5, 2020. The same year Anna played Krisitina on MacGyver (ABC Network) Season 4, Episode 5, which aired on March 6, 2020.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bogomazova, Anna 1990 births Living people Middleweight kickboxers Professional wrestling managers and valets Russian female kickboxers Russian female professional wrestlers Russian female taekwondo practitioners Voronezh State University alumni Naturalized citizens of the United States