welcome to my website!
My name is Anika Waco and I'm a film, TV, and stage actor based in Los Angeles. I'm originally from Chicago-ish: Oak Park, IL (locals, you can decide if that counts or not). My love for acting began at age seven in summer theatre camp, and the Chicago theatre industry nurtured that love as I spent high school in the audiences at top-tier regional productions and storefront blackboxes.
As a teenager, I found my performance niche in my high school’s production season of eight plays a year. I was able to focus solely on acting, from Mary Zimmerman's abstract work to period pieces like Sense and Sensibility and physical comedies like The 39 Steps - and I realized that this was what I needed to do for the rest of my life. I attended Elon University in North Carolina and studied at a conservatory-style program within a liberal arts setting. I graduated in 2022 with my BFA in Acting and BA in Arts Administration, as well as minors in Spanish and Business Administration (it was a busy four years!).
One of my favorite acting experiences to this day is still Elon's production of The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, and the magic that came from a group of women exploring the intricacies of unfiltered teenage girlhood. I directed the play in 2018, so it’s always been special to me, and working on it as an actor was the most fulfilling challenge. I also got to dive into screen acting through work with Elon's Cinema and Television Arts program. As I spent time in Acting for the Camera class and on many short film sets, I became addicted to collaborating on set and discovering the nuances and possibilities of film acting.
In January of 2023, I made the move to LA, and I've loved experiencing a whole new side of the entertainment industry (and escaping Chicago winters). I dove into this market head first, and have appeared in television episodes, short films, web series, and commercials - role highlights include a TikTok dancer with a reality show, a class president at a spy academy, and a pregnant woman trying to reconnect with her sister. I’ve also been having a blast in on-camera acting class at Margie Haber Studio. As dramatic as it sounds, it is the honor of my life to be here telling stories for both the stage and the screen alongside incredible creatives.
I’m also an arts administrator passionate about the power of non-profit arts organizations, and have been working at Geffen Playhouse for about two years. It’s been a great way to expand my professional skill set and keep theatre in my life. Outside of work and acting, you can usually find me blasting music with the car windows down (most likely Taylor Swift - ask me about the time I met her, craziest story I'll ever tell), trying to be a good plant mama, studying Survivor gameplay, cooking some sort of pasta dish, watching Lady Bird, or crying over how beautiful the sky is. If I wasn’t so in love with performing, I would probably be off the grid in the mountains somewhere living solely off of s'mores, or traveling the country in a camper van.
