Biography
Alisa Khazanova is an actor in theatre and film, as well as a film director, screenwriter, and producer. As of May 2024, she is based in London and is developing several international projects.
Alisa began her career as a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, performing a broad classical repertoire including Swan Lake, Spartacus, Don Quixote, Capriccio, and The Golden Age, among others. She graduated from the Martha Graham School of Modern Dance in New York, holds two degrees in Ballet Dancing and Choreography from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, and was awarded a scholarship to study at the Juilliard School. Additionally, she has established herself as a choreographer, winning the Grand Prix at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet choreography competition in St. Petersburg.
After a serious knee injury ended her professional ballet career, Alisa transitioned into acting for film and theatre. She debuted in 2005 in Nikolai Khomeriki's short film Together, which won the Cinefondation award, followed by his feature films 977 and Tale in the Darkness, both showcased in Cannes Film Festival's 'Un Certain Regard' section. Her first English-language film role was in James Watkins' The Woman in Black in 2012. Throughout her acting career, Alisa has worked with acclaimed independent directors such as Nikolai Dostal, Renata Litvinova, Pavel Loungine, Valeria Gai Germanika, Pavel Ruminov, Grigory Konstantinopolsky, and Anna Melikyan.
In theatre, Alisa is recognized for her solo performances like Agata Returns Home at Praktika Theatre and Shining at The Stanislavsky Electrotheatre. In 2018, she performed in London in The Girl and Death, directed by Maxim Didenko. Since 2022, she has starred in The Last Word, also directed by Didenko and inspired by her original concept: a production focused on the final statements of women accused of political crimes in Russian courts, representing some of the last voices of free speech in Russia. The Last Word premiered at Berlin's Gorki Theatre and has toured internationally, including performances in Potsdam, Dresden, Princeton University, and Tel Aviv.
Alisa co-wrote and directed her debut feature film, the indie drama Middleground, released in theaters in 2017. Filmed in New York and entirely in English, it featured an international cast with Alisa in the lead role. Her second feature, The White List, a procedural drama loosely based on real events surrounding the police investigation of a teenage suicide game controversy, was co-written, co-produced, and directed by Alisa and released theatrically in autumn 2023.
