BIO
Alba Albanese is a Brooklyn-born actress, stunt performer, and multidisciplinary creator whose work spans film, television, theater, immersive performance, and emerging media. Of Brazilian-Italian heritage and fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, she has been a SAG-AFTRA member since 1996. Known for emotionally resonant performances and a meticulous approach to craft, she merges classical acting technique with innovative storytelling to create boundary-pushing narrative experiences.
Screen
On television, Albanese has appeared in Billions (Showtime), The Good Cop (Netflix), and The Tick (Amazon Prime), and she played the lead in the film Saint Anthony. A stunt performer since 2004, she has performed stunts for studio film and television productions and trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, and stage combat.
Stage & Immersive
Albanese originated the role of The Oracle Annabella in Punchdrunk's acclaimed Off-Broadway production Sleep No More and returned to the McKittrick Hotel in Apparitions. Her stage roles include Madame Zephyrine in the Really Useful Group's Masquerade and Carol Cutrere in Orpheus Descending for LAByrinth Theater Company. The New York Times called her a "slithering siren" as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.
Her immersive musical Serenade, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, was praised by The New York Times. Her solo immersive performance The Raven, created in collaboration with Microsoft, was an Official Selection of the New York Film Festival. She has also performed in award-winning immersive experiences for Amazon Prime, WarnerMedia, and Syfy's The Magicians.
Her work has been presented at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Overlook Film Festival, the North Bend Film Festival, and the Future of Storytelling Summit. At the Future of Storytelling Summit she created and performed Annabellee: As Above, So Below, an immersive VR experience developed with Microsoft.
Training
Albanese's craft rests on years of study with some of the most celebrated acting teachers in American theater. She trained in the Meisner technique directly under legendary teachers William Esper and Maggie Flanigan, graduating from both of their two-year conservatory programs, and continues that work in master classes with Terry Knickerbocker. She studied classical theater with Alec Baldwin at Southampton College, where she went on to play Blanche DuBois under his direction. She studied Shakespeare at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles, and continued her training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and The New School in New York.
Creator
As a writer, director, and producer, Albanese co-founded two companies. Actors Theatre of NYC is a nonprofit theater company that produced Tennessee on Hudson, a celebration of Tennessee Williams's work. Storyverse NYC, where she is Chief Creative Designer, is a studio creating immersive experiences for live and virtual audiences. Her original works include Fairyland, AETHER: Awakening Annabellee, and Emily Was Here, an XR storytelling experience on the Brooklyn Bridge.
She is a recipient of the NYC Artist Corps Grant, an NYC Cultural Affairs Grant, and an NYFA Award. Through them she wrote, directed, and performed Queen of Jacks, staged at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre and The Chain Theatre in New York City. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, and Collider.
Upcoming
A Brooklyn Dream · Feature Premiere · October 8 · Nitehawk Cinema, Brooklyn
Albanese plays several roles in this story, which lives both as live theater and on film.
Fairyland · Live Virtual Experience · October 11
Audiences meet Belle virtually after her awakening in AETHER: Awakening Annabellee. Tickets at fairylandshow.com.
Relationshits · Series Premiere · October 17 · ALZA Festival, New York
Albanese plays Liv.
Queen of Jacks · Short Film · In Pre-Production
Adapted from her play, Queen of Jacks follows a woman on a mission who returns to her neighborhood to take on her father's legacy, or change it: a female Michael Corleone.
Fairyland · Series · In Development
A supernatural drama series Albanese wrote, created, and stars in.
PRESS:
Perri Nemiroff (Collider) wrote of her role in Home of Enchantments at The Overlook Film Festival:
“I was absolutely floored by Alba Albanese’s work It’s an extensive tale that requires a powerhouse performance that not only hits the beats of the story crafted, but also comes with interactive emotional elements that feel deeply personal. It’s a beautiful mix of making the participant feel vulnerable and on edge while also sending you on your way with a surprisingly full heart.”
The New York Times captured the core of her mission:
“It comes down to a longing for human contact,” she said. “Today, everything is dehumanized by technology. We miss the intimacy of the Gilded Age a handwritten letter, flowers at the door, giving a lock of hair, looking into someone’s eyes, feeling a human touch. There is a void today, and people want connections. We want storytelling and poetry in our lives.”
In Barbed Wire, Saunder Gusinow wrote:
“Creator Alba Albanese is exceedingly inventive; she’s taken the things most bothersome about immersive theatre and banished them from her work.”
Haleigh Foutch of Collider called her performance:
“…not-to-be-missed world premiere of the immersive and intimate art performance from Alba Albanese.”
