Marli Siu

Marli Siu is a Scottish actress. Her films include Anna and the Apocalypse (2017), Our Ladies (2019), and Run (2019), the latter of which won her a Scottish BAFTA. On television, Siu has appeared in the spy thriller Alex Rider (2020–2024) and the BBC drama Everything I Know About Love (2022).

Marli Siu
Alma materEdinburgh Napier University
OccupationActress
Years active2015–present

Early life and education

Siu lived on Lamma Island in Hong Kong until she was four years old, before moving to and growing up in Forres in Moray, north-east Scotland. She attended Forres Academy. Her mother is Scottish from Edinburgh and her father was Chinese. She has four sisters.[1][2]

Siu attended a youth theatre group in Elgin and joined the National Youth Theatre,[3] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting and English Literature from Edinburgh Napier University.[4][5]

Career

In 2015, Siu appeared in the short film Scoring, by Screen Academy Scotland, for which she was nominated for the ‘Under 25: Fresh Blood Award’ at the Underwire Film Festival.[4][6] Her theatre credits include Dead Letter Office, Some Company, (co-writer); Much Ado About Nothing, Dundee Repertory Theatre (Ian Charleson Awards commendation) and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Royal National Theatre.[4]

Siu moved to London in 2017, where she played Echo for 38 episodes of the CBBC web series Dixi.[7] Her first major movie role came in 2017, when she played Lisa in John McPhail's zombie musical Anna and the Apocalypse, performing the song It's That Time of Year.[8] The film premiered at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and was released in the UK for Christmas 2018. Siu was named as one of the 15th Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow 2018 an annual talent showcase that spotlights up-and-coming British and Irish actors, writers, directors and producers from the UK and Ireland.[9][10]

In 2019, Siu starred in the film Run,[11] which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival on 26 April in New York City.[9][4][12] Later that year Siu starred in two films selected to be screened at the 2019 London Film Festival, Run and Our Ladies both due for an upcoming cinema release.[11]

In 2020, Siu starred as Kyra, a student from Point Blanc, in the IMDb television teen spy series Alex Rider. Kyra teams up with Alex (Otto Farrant) and plays an important role in all three series.[13]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014Run (Short Film)Lily[14]
2015ScoringKatjaShort film [6]
2017Anna and the Apocalypse Lisa
2019Run [11]KellyNote: feature length film
2019Our Ladies[15]Kylah
2024Apartment 7AAnnie Leung

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2016Still Game Sally1 episode
2017DixiEchoWeb, 38 episodes
2019Grantchester Karla Read1 episode
2020–2024Alex RiderKyra Vashenko-Chao18 episodes
2021The IrregularsSusan ShipleyEpisode: "Chapter One: An Unkindness in London"
2022Everything I Know About LoveNell7 Episodes

Stage

YearTitleRoleNotes
2017MisallianceHytapiaOrange Tree Theatre, Richmond
2016Much Ado About NothingHeroDundee Repertory Theatre, Dundee
2019–2020The Ocean at the End of the LaneLettie HempstockRoyal National Theatre, London

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef.
2014Southampton International Film FestivalBest Supporting Actress in a Short FilmRun (Short film)Nominated[14]
2015Underwire Film FestivalBest Under 25 AwardScoringNominated[6]
2016Ian Charleson AwardsMuch Ado About NothingNominated[16]
2018Screen InternationalStars of Tomorrow 2018 Won[10][9]
Toronto After Dark Film FestivalBest Ensemble Cast (shared)Anna and the ApocalypseWon[14][17]
2019CinEuphoria Awards (shared)Best Ensemble - International CompetitionNominated[14]
Fangoria Chainsaw AwardsBest Supporting ActressNominated[14]
2021British Academy Scotland Awards 2021Scottish BAFTA - Best Actress – FilmRunWon[18]
2022British Academy Scotland Awards 2022Scottish BAFTA - Best Actress – FilmOur LadiesNominated[19]

References