Jessica Mei Li, an English actress, rose to prominence for her role as Alina Starkov in the Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone, which premiered in 2021.
She was born on August 27, 1995, in Brighton, East Sussex, to an English mother and a Chinese father who was reared in Hong Kong.
She grew up in Redhill, Surrey, with an elder brother. Li attended Reigate College from 2010 to 2012 before enrolling at the University of Sussex to study French and Spanish.
However, she eventually opted to drop out of university. Li worked as a teaching assistant in a secondary school for over two years, supporting children with special needs.
Li joined the National Youth Theatre in 2015 and trained part-time at the Identity School of Acting from 2016 to 2017.
She made her professional stage debut in February 2019 as Claudia Casswell in All About Eve, a Noel Coward Theatre production produced and written by Ivo van Hove and starring prominent actresses such as Gillian Anderson and Lily James.
Who plays Alina in Shadow?
In the Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone (2021-), Jessica Mei Li, an English actress, is most known for playing Alina Starkov.
Does Jessie Mei Li know martial arts?
Yes, Jessie Mei Li has training in various martial arts, such as Wing Chung and Taekwondo. She started learning Hungarian while filming the episode in order to connect with the team more effectively.