Ana Golja

Ana Golja
Ana Golja
	Golja at an interview for Yangaroo in 2018
Born	Muazana Golja; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer-songwriter
Years active	2005–present

Muazana "Ana" Golja is a Canadian actress and singer. She is known for playing Zoë Rivas in the teen dramas Degrassi: Next Class and Degrassi: The Next Generation and Ariana Berlin in the TV movie Full Out.

Career

Golja began her acting career in 2005 as Lucy in the Canadian police series 1-800-Missing. She later had small roles in the series Flashpoint and How to Be Indie, before landing a part in the regular cast of Connor Undercover in 2010.

In 2010 with What's Up Warthogs!, she had her first major role as part of the main cast of that sitcom. In 2011, she played Liz in Clue. She then participated in small projects and a web series before landing the role of Zoë Rivas in the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: Next Class in 2013.^[2]

In 2015, Golja played Ariana Berlin, in the TV movie Full Out: The Ariana Berlin Movie, a role which earned her a nomination for the Canadian Screen Awards.^[3]

Golja recorded the song "Feel So Good" for the Full Out soundtrack,^[4] produced by Roy "Royalty" Hamilton. As of January 2016, Golja was working on her debut EP.^[5]^[2] She released the EP, titled Epilogue over the course of several weeks in November and December 2017.^[6]

Golja co-hosted the Albanian festival Festivali i Këngës 57, the annual Albanian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, from December 20 to 22, 2018.^[7]

Personal life

Golja was born and raised in Toronto to parents from Albania.^[8] She later moved to the Streetsville neighborhood in Mississauga, Ontario.^[5] She is of Albanian descent, and also has "some Spanish, some Greek, some German, and Jewish" heritage.^[9]^[10] Golja has stated that she considers herself Canadian "through and through".^[11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	En Vogue Christmas	Amber
2015	Full Out: The Ariana Berlin Movie	Ariana Berlin
2015	Dumb Luck	Taylor	Short film
2017	Love On Ice	Nikki Lee
2018	Crazy for the Boys	London
2019	The Cuban	Mina	Also producer
2019	The Fanatic	Leah
2022	Social Industrial Meltdown	Superstar	Short film
TBD	Off the Grid	Katrina	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	1-800-Missing	Lucy
2008	Flashpoint	Penny (10 years old)
2009	Franny's Feet	Panda
2010	What's Up Warthogs!	Laney Nielsen
	Connor Undercover	Lily Bogdakovitch
	The Dating Guy	Little Girl Contestants
	Vacation with Derek	Isabella	Television film
2011	How to Be Indie	Dotty
	Little Mosque on the Prairie	Betty Sue
	Clue	Liz	Miniseries
2012	Super Why!	Additional Voices / Girl
2013–2015	Degrassi: The Next Generation	Zoë Rivas	Main role (seasons 13–14); 55 episodes
2015	Degrassi: Don't Look Back	Zoë Rivas	Television film
2013	Life with Boys	Cassandra
2013	Unlikely Heroes	Ellen
2014	Katie Chats	Herself
2015	It Goes There: Degrassi's Most Talked About Moments	Herself
2016	Conviction	Jazmin Peligro
2016–2017	Degrassi: Next Class	Zoë Rivas	Main role (seasons 1–4); 32 episodes
2018	Festivali i Këngës 57	Herself	Co-host^[7]
2018	A Father's Nightmare	Sasha	Television film
2020	I Do, or Die – A Killer Arrangement	Sonya	Television film

Discography

2015 : Full Out: The Ariana Berlin Movie (Soundtrack)
2018 : Epilogue (Debut Album)
2019: Bailemos feat. Alx Veliz (Single)
2021 : Strive (EP)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Refs
2015	Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series	Gemini Award	Full Out: The Ariana Berlin Movie	Nominated

References

^ "MUAZANA @TheAnaGolja". Twitter. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
^ ^a ^b Marriska Fernandes (January 12, 2016). "Interview with Degrassi: Next Class stars Ana Golja and Ricardo Hoyos". Tribute. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
^ Chris Clay (January 28, 2016). "First award nomination for Mississauga actor for portrayal of relentless gymnast". The Mississauga News. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
^ Reana Ashley (August 23, 2016). "Star of Emmy Nom'd Series "Degrassi: Next Class" Ana Golja Interview". reanaashley.com.
^ ^a ^b Chris Clay (September 7, 2015). "Streetsville actor lands lead role in new Family Channel film". The Mississauga News. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
^ Ana Golja [@TheAnaGolja] (December 8, 2017). "EPILOGUE CHAPTER 4 IS OUT!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 8, 2017 – via Twitter.
^ ^a ^b Herbert, Emily (December 11, 2018). "Albania: Viktor Zhusti and Ana Golja to Host Festivali i Këngës 57". Eurovoix. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
^ "Ana Golja". Luso Life. August 15, 2020. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2021. ... both my parents were born and raised in Albania ... I am first generation, born and raised in Toronto.
^ "Ana Golja". Luso Life. August 15, 2020. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2021. I have very mixed roots, both my parents were born and raised in Albania, but we have some Spanish, some Greek, some German and Jewish.
^ Ana Golja (May 31, 2019). "Not many people know but I'm part Spanish. I don't identify with it only because I consider myself Canadian, through and through. And my parents were both born in Albania(and have passed on the language and traditions to me). That said, I have very mixed roots that do in fact, include Spain". Instagram. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
^ Ana Golja (May 31, 2019). "I don't identify with it only because I consider myself Canadian, through and through". Instagram. Retrieved May 31, 2019.

External links

Ana Golja at IMDb

[1] "MUAZANA @TheAnaGolja". Twitter. Retrieved August 18, 2016.

[tribute-2] Marriska Fernandes (January 12, 2016). "Interview with Degrassi: Next Class stars Ana Golja and Ricardo Hoyos". Tribute. Retrieved July 1, 2016.

[3] Chris Clay (January 28, 2016). "First award nomination for Mississauga actor for portrayal of relentless gymnast". The Mississauga News. Retrieved July 1, 2016.

[4] Reana Ashley (August 23, 2016). "Star of Emmy Nom'd Series "Degrassi: Next Class" Ana Golja Interview". reanaashley.com.

[streetsville-5] Chris Clay (September 7, 2015). "Streetsville actor lands lead role in new Family Channel film". The Mississauga News. Retrieved July 1, 2016.

[6] Ana Golja [@TheAnaGolja] (December 8, 2017). "EPILOGUE CHAPTER 4 IS OUT!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 8, 2017 – via Twitter.

[fik-7] Herbert, Emily (December 11, 2018). "Albania: Viktor Zhusti and Ana Golja to Host Festivali i Këngës 57". Eurovoix. Retrieved December 12, 2018.

[8] "Ana Golja". Luso Life. August 15, 2020. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2021. ... both my parents were born and raised in Albania ... I am first generation, born and raised in Toronto.

[9] "Ana Golja". Luso Life. August 15, 2020. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2021. I have very mixed roots, both my parents were born and raised in Albania, but we have some Spanish, some Greek, some German and Jewish.

[10] Ana Golja (May 31, 2019). "Not many people know but I'm part Spanish. I don't identify with it only because I consider myself Canadian, through and through. And my parents were both born in Albania(and have passed on the language and traditions to me). That said, I have very mixed roots that do in fact, include Spain". Instagram. Retrieved May 31, 2019.

[11] Ana Golja (May 31, 2019). "I don't identify with it only because I consider myself Canadian, through and through". Instagram. Retrieved May 31, 2019.