Angela Sarafyan

Angela Sarafyan is an Armenian‑American actress whose career spans over two decades, marked by a blend of indie films, mainstream television, and critically acclaimed performances. Born on June 30, 1983, in Yerevan—then part of the Armenian SSR—she migrated to Los Angeles at the age of four with her actor father Grigor Sarafyan and her painter mother, immersing herself in the artistic milieu of Southern California. She honed her discipline early through ballet and piano, later attending the academically rigorous Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Boyle Heights. Sarafyan’s on‑screen debut arrived in 2000 with a guest spot on the CBS drama Judging Amy, and she quickly followed with a cameo in Britney Spears’s “Stronger” music video, signaling a versatile entry into the entertainment world. Throughout the early 2000s she accumulated a diverse slate of television credits—including The Shield, 24, CSI: NY, and The Mentalist—and minor film roles such as the uncredited part in The Last Run. Her first leading film role came in A Beautiful Life (2008), where she portrayed Maggie opposite Jesse Garcia, establishing her capacity for emotionally resonant performances.

From the late 2000s onward, Sarafyan transitioned to more visible projects, appearing in cult‑favorite comedies like A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (2011) and the supernatural romance The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2011) as the Egyptian vampire Tia. Her breakout television moment arrived with the role of Clementine Pennyfeather on HBO’s genre‑defining series Westworld (2016–2022), a performance that garnered a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Parallel to her Westworld tenure, she delivered compelling turns in films such as The Promise (2016), Mercury Plains (2016), and the indie drama We Are Boats (2018). Post‑Westworld, Sarafyan earned accolades for the short film Pin‑Up and continued to expand her repertoire with appearances in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), Reminiscence (2021), and the horror anthology Into the Dark. In recent years she has been active on the festival circuit, participating in panels like the Armenian Women in Film and Entertainment discussion (2023), and she secured roles in projects such as Pet Shop Days (2023) and the upcoming action thriller G20 (2024). Her upcoming cameo as Lara, Superman’s mother, in the 2025 DC Universe film Superman signals an ongoing commitment to diverse and challenging roles.