Lesley-Ann Brandt is a South African-born actress (of Cape Coloured descent) who is based in Auckland, New Zealand, and Los Angeles, United States. Brandt has acted in a number of New Zealand television series and first came to international notice with her role as a slave girl Naevia in the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
Background
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she is a fluent Afrikaans speaker. and lists yoga, hockey and baseball amongst her interests.In South Africa she played competitive field hockey. In 1999 Brandt emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, with her parents and her younger brother.
Lesley-Ann Brandt started work in retail sales in Auckland before securing work as an information technology recruitment consultant. She also worked as a promo-girl for Red Bull.Following some modelling work she was cast in a number of New Zealand television advertisements. She studied acting and was trained in the Meisner technique, an improvisational approach to character development, in 2008.
Career
Brandt's first significant acting role was in the New Zealand television series Diplomatic Immunity.As well as her lead role in Diplomatic Immunity, Brandt has appeared in guest roles on the New Zealand hospital based soap opera series Shortland Street and This Is Not My Life, a science fiction series set in the 2020s in the fictional town of Waimoana.
She originally auditioned for the role of Sura in Spartacus: Blood and Sand but the casting director suggested to audition for the role of Naevia instead.In 2011 she guest appeared in TNT's Memphis Beatwhich was soon followed by a lead role (she played Cassie) in Syfy's highest rated original feature for 2011 Zombie Apocalypse starring opposite Ving Rhames and Taryn Manning. Brandt is now permanently based in Los Angeles.