Natasha Negovanlis (born April 3, 1990) is a Canadian actress, writer, producer, and singer. She achieved international recognition for portraying

Carmilla Karnstein ''Carmilla'' is an 1872 Gothic fiction, Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' (1897) by 26 years. First published as a Serial (literature), serial in ' ...

in the

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

Carmilla ''Carmilla'' is an 1872 Gothic fiction, Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' (1897) by 26 years. First published as a Serial (literature), serial in ' ...

'' (2014–2016) and in the 2017 feature film based on the series.

Career

Before acting professionally, Negovanlis studied

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

and film at the Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and Voice Performance at The Schulich School of Music at McGill University. In 2014, Negovanlis was cast as the title role in the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

winning

''. In the series, which is based on the 1871-1872 gothic novella of the same name, Negovanlis portrays the

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

Carmilla Karnstein, who appears after her roommate's previous roommate vanishes. The series premiered on

Vervegirl ''Vervegirl'' was a Canadian teen magazine published by Youth Culture, based in Toronto, for young women aged 13–24. The magazine engages young women through lifestyle, global causes, fashion, entertainment, career, health and beauty. Backgrou ...

(rebranded as

KindaTV Shaftesbury Films is a film, television and digital media production company founded by Christina Jennings in 1987. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background Shaftesbury is a creator and producer of original content for television an ...

as of February 2016) channel on August 19, 2014 and has achieved worldwide recognition and praise for its near all-female cast and positive representation of various

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

characters. In 2015, she also starred with her ''Carmilla'' co-star

Elise Bauman Elise Bauman (born October 23, 1990) is a Canadian actress, director, filmmaker and singer. She portrayed the role of Laura Hollis, the lead character of the web series '' Carmilla'' (2014–2016). Career Bauman began working professionally in ...

in the feature film ''

Almost Adults ''Almost Adults'' is a 2016 Canadian comedy film directed by Sarah Rotella starring Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis. The film is a platonic love story about two lifelong best friends struggling to keep their friendship together as their liv ...

'', which screened at several film festivals in 2016 before premiering on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. Also that year, she appeared as herself in an episode of the Canadian

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

horror television series '' Slasher'', and ranked 5th on

AfterEllen AfterEllen (also known as AfterEllen.com) is an American culture website founded in 2002, with a focus on entertainment, interviews, reviews, and news of interest to the lesbian and bisexual women's community. The site covers pop culture and lifes ...

's annual Hot 100 List. At the 5th Canadian Screen Awards, Negovanlis won the Fan's Choice Award, with over two million votes, for her work on ''Carmilla.'' Her acceptance speech, in which she discussed the importance of

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

representation, attracted media attention from various publications, including

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

and the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''. In 2017, Negovanlis guest-starred in an episode of ''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick B ...

'' and reprised her role of Carmilla Karnstein in ''

The Carmilla Movie ''The Carmilla Movie'' is a 2017 Canadian comedy horror film directed by Spencer Maybee, based on the web series of the same name (2014–2016). Both the film and the web series were adapted from the 1872 gothic novella ''Carmilla'' by Joseph Sh ...

'', a spin-off feature film based on the series. Later that year, alongside her ''Carmilla'' co-star Annie M. Briggs, Negovanlis successfully funded a digital series called ''CLAIREvoyant'' through an

Independent Production Fund The Independent Production Fund (IPF) is a Canadian private independent foundation that supports the production of Canadian dramatic digital media entertainment content and television series. It also provides professional development services and ...

grant as well as an Indiegogo campaign that raised over $25,000 USD. The comedy was co-created, co-written, and co-produced by Negovanlis and Briggs, and it premiered on the KindaTV YouTube channel on May 16, 2018 and won an award at the New York Web Fest later that year. In 2017, Negovanlis co-starred in her first American feature film, ''Freelancers Anonymous'', which premiered at the historic

Castro Theatre The Castro Theatre is a historic movie palace in San Francisco that became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street in the Castro District, it was built in 1922 with a California Churrigueresque façad ...

in San Francisco on June 15, 2018.

Personal life

Negovanlis is of Macedonian and Greek descent on her father's side, while her mother is of mixed Irish, French, and Indigenous ancestry. She has had relationships with both men and women and has publicly identified as

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...

, or

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

. Negovanlis has an adopted rescue dog named Charlie.url=https://www.theroxyproject.com/charlie/, title=Charlie, access-date=14 July 2018

Filmography

Accolades

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Negovanlis, Natasha 1990 births Activists from Toronto Actresses from Toronto 21st-century Canadian actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian LGBT actors Canadian LGBT rights activists Living people Canadian web series actresses Canadian people of Macedonian descent Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian people of Greek descent Pansexual actresses McGill University School of Music alumni Canadian people of French descent 21st-century Canadian LGBT people