Anna Shaffer is a British actress, who had her first taste of fame when she was cast for a small role in the movie, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and who became more popular by playing the character of Triss Merigold in the Netflix series, “The Witcher.”
Early life and Family
Anna Shaffer was born on 15 March 1992, in London, England; her mother’s name is Maggie Barth but her father’s name hasn’t been revealed. She has a younger brother named Josh. Based on her posts on her Instagram account, she clearly has deep affection for her family, but not much is revealed about them and her early life, except that on her Instagram account she talked about being brought up political and not religious by her parents, as she encouraged people to vote in December of 2019.
She also said that ‘I’m a South African Jew, my mum from black farmland and my dad from the Jewish innercity.’ as she explained where she’s coming from, when talking about her political views.
Early Education
No information is available regarding her primary education. She attended secondary school (Year 7-Year 11) at Highgate Wood School in Crouch End, London Borough of Haringey. She then went to Camden School for Girls in London Borough of Camden for her Sixth Form to complete her secondary education (Year 12-Year 13.)
Career
First Steps
Anna had a great start to her acting career as her first project was in the highly successful “Harry Potter” movie franchise.
She became known to the international audience when she was cast at age 15 in December of 2007 for the small but memorable role of Romilda Vane, the fourth year student of House Gryffindor, who tried to use a love potion on the main protagonist, Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” The filming of the movie began in 24 September 2007, and it was released worldwide on 15 July 2009, grossing nearly $950 million.
She reprised the role of Romilda Vane in the last two movies of the “Harry Potter” franchise, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 1”in 2010 and “– Part 2” in 2011, with a worldwide gross return of over $950 million and almost $1.5 billion, respectively.
Further Success
After her successful debut on the big screen, she was cast for the role of Ruby Dixon in the award‑winning British soap opera, “Hollyoaks,” when she was 18 years old. It was said that she auditioned for the part of Leanne Holiday, but was instead cast as Ruby Button, whose character was manipulative, rebellious, and a bully. She was in 238 episodes from 2011 to 2014. She was nominated for “Sexiest Female” at The British Soap Awards in 2013. In an interview in 2013 with “Digital Spy,” she had this to say about her leaving the series, ‘I’ve loved my time at Hollyoaks and playing Ruby, but I’ve just got itchy feet and I want a new, fresh beginning.’ She also missed London, her parents, and her brother since moving to Liverpool for the filming, and added, ‘I’m ready for a change but I’ll be really sad to leave.’
Anna reprised her role in 2017 and 2018 for a guest appearance in four episodes, so her fans were able to see her again in the BBC soap after three years.
In 2014, she appeared in one episode of the drama series, “Glue”, and another minor role came her way in 2016 when she was cast for two episodes as Rachel Chapman, the main character’s girlfriend, in the British science fiction drama, “Class,” a spin-off from the “Doctor Who” series. In 2017 she was in four episodes of the BBC crime thriller drama series, “Fearless,” also in a minor role. She was in the 2018 action film, “I Am Vengeance,” but which only received 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Anna was also cast for the titular role in the comedy play, “Daisy Pulls It Off,” which opened on 5 December 2017 at the Park Theatre in Outer London, that had its run until 13 January 2018.
“The Witcher”
Shaffer was cast for the supporting role of Triss Merigold in the American fantasy drama series, “The Witcher,” which was based on the book series of the same name by Polish author, Andrzej Sapkowski. The eight-episode season 1 of the series was released in its entirety on Netflix on 20 December 2019. Before it premiered, it was announced that Netflix had already ordered season 2 with eight episodes. The series which starred Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, and Anya Chalotra as the main characters, was a success, according to Netflix ranking second in the most popular series of 2019, behind “Stranger Things.”
Anna was in three episodes on the first season – her character, Triss, was a sorceress who was in love with and a friend to Henry Cavill’s character, Geralt. Fans were curious if her character would be based on the book or the CD Projekt Red’s “The Witcher” game series, because Triss was more of a major character in the RPG (Role-Playing Game) version than in the book. In season 1, the character was leaning more toward the book version.
The show began production of season 2 in early 2020 in London, and was scheduled for release in 2021, however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, production was halted.
Personal life
Anna Shaffer is 28 years old and currently dating Jimmy Stephenson, actually since 18 July 2015. One only had to look at their posts on their respective Instagram accounts to see the kind of relationship that they have. On his account he greeted Anna on her birthday, and wrote ‘Happy Birthday to my best mate and beautiful woman. I hope you enjoy me even half as much as I do you…Love you so much, here’s to many more adventures…’ Her birthday greeting to him was posted on her account and says, “Happy Birthday, magic man. You fill me right up to the brim…Thank God for you, the axis of my being.”
Interesting rumors and facts
- When she was a child, she religiously watched the British children’s television drama series, “The Story of Tracy Beaker.”
- She loved playing Gameboys and PlayStation after school
- In an interview on YouTube’s “Road to Rowling” posted in March 2020, she said that she’d read the “Harry Potter” books, and that her favorite was “The Prisoner of Azkaban” because she had a massive crush on Sirius Black, who had that kind of bad boy vibes. However, she had never met Gary Oldman, who played the role in the movie.
- She took home her tie from her costume in “Harry Potter.”
- She appeared in the 2012 music video of Warehouse Republic’s “YDEK” song.
- Her biggest challenge when filming was that she couldn’t cry on dramatic scenes, and she and her director in “Hollyoaks” had to use some tricks to produce tears.
- On her last day on, the set of “Hollyoaks” in 2014, she accepted the singing challenge of the production and sang her goodbyes to the cast and crew of the television series.
- A weekly UK magazine, “Inside Soap,” conducted a poll in August 2011 on who among the “Hollyoaks” characters the readers wanted murdered by the series’ serial killer, and her character Ruby was voted second at 21 percent.
- In September 2018, she posted on her Twitter account that she was sexually assaulted while on the Tube to London’s Knightsbridge Station. She claimed that a man tried to put his hand in her underwear in the crowded carriage, and she was frozen in fear. A female passenger helped her out by shouting at the man to make him stop and he did. With the help of the Transport for London staff, she was able to report the assault to the police.
Appearance
Anna has curly brown hair and brown eyes. She is 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, weighs around 134lbs (61kgs), and her vital statistics are 34-26-34. She wears a size four dress and her shoe size is 8.5.
Net worth and salary
She started working as a teen for minor roles in movies and television, and was a regular cast member in “Hollyoaks.” She also worked in a theatrical play. Her most recent project was a supporting role in “The Witcher.” It was not revealed how much she earned on these projects, however, sources estimated her net worth as of early 2020 to be $1 million.