Gia Aurelius

Gia Aurelius is an actor and storyteller with a deep-rooted passion for the performing arts. Born in Toronto, Canada and raised on the island of Mauritius, Gia boasts a rich East asian/South East Asian heritage, being of Northeast Indian (Bengoli/Bihari), South Indian (Tamil) Sino-Tibetan and Nepalese ancestry. Having grown up in Mauritius, she is fluent in Mauritian French, which is close to Parisian French, along with Mauritian Creole, Hindi, and English. 

Gia developed an early appreciation for storytelling, being an avid reader and audience of Bollywood, French cinema, Hollywood, Tollywood, Nollywood, and (dubbed) Brazilian and Mexican productions. Her inspirations include legendary figures such as (RIP) Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Peter Falk, Sridevi, Smita Patil among others. She also aspires to hit the comedic timing of legends (RIP) Jerry Stiller and Louis de Funès. 

Within a non-exhaustive list of contemporaries, Gia is in absolute awe of the versatility and gripping executions by Hollywood’s Emma Stone and Nollywood’s Funke Akindele as well as the restrained yet intense performances by Bollywood’s Tabu. 

Her first role was in a high school production of “The Miracle Worker,” where she played Helen Keller’s mother. Although she set out on a conventional academic path, acting remained with her in spirit, becoming an intrinsic part of her that cried out to be nurtured and allowed to bloom. Over a decade later, Gia decided to follow that call and enrolled at the Screen Acting Academy, where she trained under such seasoned coaches as Mike Migliara, Karen Cliche, and Felipe Lemos. Her instruction was guided by the Sanford Meisner Technique as well as the teachings of acting gurus such as Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, and David Rotenberg. 

Having always had a love of languages, Gia seized the chance to study beginner Spanish and Italian in high school, shortly after arriving in Canada. She also pursued German Studies as part of her Honours Bachelors double major in Economics at York University in Toronto. Subsequently,  Gia graduated from the University of Ottawa Law School, where she served as a senior editor with the Ottawa Law Review, a bilingual academic journal. In this role, she exercised rigorous attention to detail and conducted meticulous analysis of academic submissions. 

 As a performing artist, she transposes the above mentioned detail-oriented approach to her craft, in order to bring reality to her work and her analytical skills to deconstruct scenes, read “between the lines” of the script, and look beyond the words of her scene persona and that of her partner-character to uncover their motivations, fears, and hopes. Gia believes that along with technical training, hypersensitivity and empathy are of critical importance in order to bring about an arresting interpretation of the persona on screen. Before a hectic family life took over her schedule, she used to volunteer at an animal shelter, demonstrating her deep empathy and compassion. 

Gia is currently working on a number of independent student projects. When she is not studying scene or voice-over scripts and continuing her acting education, she enjoys her vocal practice time, having recently taken up singing, hitting the weights at the gym, swimming and reading the fantasy works of Theodora Goss and Cornelia Funke though she grew up devouring Agatha Christie’s crime fiction works and Comtesse de Segur’s historical children’s classics. She also hopes to take up another love of hers, dancing. As a child, she was briefly trained in the classical Indian dance form of Bharatnatyam and Chinese classical dance. With her affinity for dance, she easily picks up moves and plans to tie up any loose ends by seeking professional instruction. 

Gia believes in the transformative power of stories and is committed to exploring new narratives that challenge and uplift. She aims for her performances to be marked by authenticity and passion.  She embraces every opportunity to learn and evolve, always with an optimistic outlook, a heart full of gratitude and a spirit determined in the relentless pursuit of excellence.