Bio
Vanessa Pike is a South African actress best known for her role as Bonnie Badenhorst in the SABC2 mystery thriller television series Die Vierde Kabinet, in 1998.
She started out in educational theatre before obtaining a Bilingual Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama from the University of Cape Town, in 1991.
In 1994 Vanessa was offered the supporting role of Lesley in the action thriller Never Say Die. After that she caught her big break when she was offered the leading role of heroine Sherry Ouelette, the long-suffering niece of villain William Gartley (played by Robert Englund), in the Stephen King thriller The Mangler, in 1995.
For her role in The Mangler, Vanessa won the 1994 M-Net All-Africa Film Award for Best Actress.
She went on to perform in numerous television series including Egoli, Rhodes, Triptiek (1993), Tarzan - The Epic Adventures (1996), Kelebone (1997), Justice for All (1998), Die Vierde Kabinet (1998), Arsenaal (2002), Song vir Katryn (2003-2005), The Res (2004),
Vanessa also has an extensive theatre resume including parts in musicals like the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Girl Talk (in which she traveled to Malaysia to perform for the King), Fiddler on the Roof and Situation Comedy, as well as the pantomimes Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin.
Other theatre productions include Telling It Like It Is (directed by Francois Theron), Me in Charge of Me (directed by Megan Wilson), Tales of a Thousand and One Nights (directed by Roger Bennington) and Legends Alive II, directed by Adam Schiff.
Vanessa was cast in the South African television mini-series To the Ends of the Earth in 2005, which was filmed in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal.
She also had a guest role in the ITV series Wild at Heart (2005) and appeared in the 2011 series Leonardo.
She resides in Johannesburg, South Africa.