Bio
Kanya Viljoen is a South African actress, musician, writer and director best known for her starring role as Leora van Niekerk in the kykNET drama series Afgrond.
She graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2017 with a B.A. (Hons) Degree in Theatre and Performance.
She appeared in a number of student plays including Die Jaar Toe My Ma Begin Sing Het, Lied van die Boeings, As You Like It, Murdering Agatha Christie and her final Masters project All of It, Everything, Now, Together, directed by Francesco Nassimbeni.
During this time she was in the band Huey Huey and was a founding member of the jazz band Vivace Music.
In 2021 she landed her first screen role, a starring part in the kykNET dramas series Afgrond (Abyss), which revolves around fate and the choices that five women make while each is fighting for their existence that brings them together.
In the show her character, Leora, inherits her father's funeral parlour and while she's trying to keep her head above water, she discovers the shocking truth about her fiancé, Etienne (played by Wilhelm van der Walt).
The series premiered on kykNET on Wednesday 17 February, 2021.