I’m a founding members of an all-women film co-op, the "Counterbalance Collective." Last year, we shepherded nine short films through production (in nine consecutive days, no less!) and are about to unleash them into the world this summer, all while we prep pre-production on four more, which will be released by year’s end.

Hello! I am Regina Efendieva, a Russian-English bilingual actor based in Toronto, Canada

A Moscow-born immigrant, I’m half Armenian, and half Central Asian variety pack. Relocating constantly as a kid - with dreams of someday becoming the next Cher ft Atom Egoyan - I honed my observational skills quickly and well. Immersing myself in different cultures, defying the concept of ‘blending in,’ I remained - and remain today - a wry, curious outsider. With years of ‘anthropological’ observations made before puberty, I’d developed a unique dry, dark sense of humour, and a keen understanding of how people tick, which I bring to my acting and art as a whole.

My love of people’s narratives found a home at the University of Toronto’s English department, where I earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in Visual Arts (unfortunately my time logged playing video games was NOT eligible for extra credit). I’ve managed to keep up this ambitious pace of reading; devouring film, tv and all other media to sate my hunger for understanding characters’ nuances.