Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Lesley-Ann Brandt has become one of the biggest South African exports via New Zealand after immigrating to Auckland with her parents and brother in 1999. With her mixed ethnic background, Lesley-Ann is Hollywood’s exciting new discovery.
As a child, she participated in almost every kindergarten and school play and was a natural singer. It was when she starting modeling and booking TV commercials that she caught the eye of casting directors. Encouraged by them, she began studying the Meisner technique as well as doing every possible acting workshop she could find and after only a few months her natural ability to perform, take direction and work with the camera saw her commercial auditions shift towards television and film auditions.
Lesley-Ann was discovered by local New Zealand producer Chris Hampson and creator/writer James Griffen (Siones Wedding, Outrageous Fortune, The Almighty Johnsons) who were on the hunt for the leading lady of their quirky new half hour comedy Diplomatic Immunity. They’d been searching for an actress for months and were 3 weeks away from shooting when Lesley-Ann auditioned. She was hired within a week, had to quit her job as an IT recruitment consultant and went on to star opposite Craig Parker (of Spartacus, Lord of the Rings and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans), quickly moving her into the hearts of the New Zealand nation.
In 2010 Brandt commanded the world take notice with her role as “Naevia” in the breakout Starz hit, Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Naevia the beautiful slave girl who’s story with Manu Bennett’s character Crixus emerged as the show’s big love story creating a fan frenzy worldwide.
Working with producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and actors John Hannah (The Mummy and Four Weddings and a Funeral), Peter Mensah (300 and Avatar), Lucy Lawless (Xena), Lesley-Ann captivated audiences with her performance, and became one of the shows break out stars.
Lesley-Ann continued to work on back to back projects, This is not My Life (2010) and ABC’s Legend of the Seeker (2010) as well as her feature film debut Insight starring opposite Natalie Zea and Christopher Lloyd.
In 2011 she resurrected her role as “Naevia” in the prequel season of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. Roles on Chuck, CSI: New York (recurring) and TNT’s Memphis Beat soon followed as well as a lead role in Syfy’s highest rated original feature for 2011 Zombie Apocalypse starring opposite Ving Rhames and Taryn Manning.
Lesley-Ann has been named as one of 2013’s faces to watch in film by South Africa’s largest newspaper publication City Press. This year she can be seen in the much anticipated feature film Drift starring opposite Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator: Salvation) and Xavier Samuel (Twilight: Eclipse, Anonymous) as well as the dark comedy, Killing Winston Jones starring opposite Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Masterson, Danny Glover , Jon Heder and directed by Joel David Moore (Avatar, Dodgeball).
Since 2015, Lesley-Ann has starred on Lucifer on the role of “Mazikeen”
Lesley-Ann is now permanently based in Los Angeles.
