Ayisha Issa

Ayisha Issa (born 18 March 1984) is a Canadian actress and martial arts practitioner. She has played a number of roles in both English- and French-language television series and films, such as Dark Matter, Unité 9, and Brick Mansions. She is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu who won at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships twice, once in 2010 as a white belt, and again in 2014 as a blue belt; she currently holds the rank of brown belt and previously owned a dojo in Toronto.

In 2022, she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards, for her regular role as Dr. June Curtis in Transplant.

Biography Issa was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, growing up as an Anglophone on Montreal's West Island. In her twenties, she worked as the assistant front-desk manager at a Montreal hotel before being fired. Looking for a new career, she shifted her focus toward athletics, and after a brief time in kickboxing, began to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Her role in Immortals was followed immediately with a role in The Bait (L'Appât), a French-language buddy cop action comedy film where she plays a "kind of Ninja assassin" who pursues the main characters. the series is also set in a women's prison. Issa played Bouba, a "mean piece of work who makes life a living hell for the other female prisoners."

She currently has a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and owns a dojo named 4Points in Toronto.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games