Anya Major

Anya Major (born 1960) is an English athlete, actress, model and singer who starred in Apple Computer's "1984" commercial and, in 1985, appeared as "Nikita" in the video to Elton John's song of the same name.

Career "1984" advertisement

In 1983, the Chiat/Day advertising agency held a casting call in London, on behalf of their client, Apple Computer, for what would prove to be a landmark television commercial. The vision of the agency and director Ridley Scott stipulated an actress capable of running up to a large video screen, spinning with a sledgehammer, and releasing it at the video screen. Most of the models and actresses tested struggled to do this; one errant throw nearly struck a passerby at the Hyde Park casting call. Anya Major, however, won the role with her ability to handle the hammer convincingly.

The commercial officially aired only twice on American television. It was first screened in December 1983, right before the 1:00 am sign-off on KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, so that it would be eligible for advertising industry awards for that year. In addition, starting on January 17, 1984 it was screened prior to previews in movie theaters for a few weeks.

Later life In 2006, Andy Hertzfeld of the Macintosh development team incorrectly stated that Major had died of breast cancer in 2000. As of 2009, she was living in England with her husband Kim Rajah and their three children. More recently in 2016, fragments of the famed Macintosh commercial were shown in the documentary "Silicon Cowboys " produced by Jason Cohen.