Aesha Waks

Origin

Aesha Hash Waks was born to Israel and Mindy Waks, of Israeli, German, Russian and Polish descent, Waks's father (of Israeli, Ukrainian, and Polish descent) works in fashion and interior installation. Her mother, Mindy (of German and Polish descent), was a full-time artist. Her parents named her after Stevie Wonder's song “Aisha” that means "fire" in Hebrew. Her brother, Geffen Waks, is a hip-hop artist.

Childhood

Waks guest starred in WOR-TV’s Romper Room at age 5 and sang the national anthem at Shea Stadium for the NY Mets at age 7. Waks got her SAG card by skating in a Honey Combs commercial and went on to do many more commercials including Levis, Buffalino Boots and Microsoft. Waks then performed in a number of television guest spots including New York Undercover, City Kids, Third Watch, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Dance

While getting her diploma from LaGuardia H.S. as a drama major, Waks was also a professional choreographer and world tour dancer for pop artist the Mad Stuntman from Reel 2 Real and was making appearances in major music videos such as Wu Tang Clan ("Oh God"), Elton John ("Believe"), and Tag Team ("Whoomp There It Is"). During that time, Waks was paying for her Broadway dance school lessons by performing as a cage dancer for the Palladium and The Limelight clubs at their prime.

Writing and education

Waks has written poetry and has been winning awards for her works since she was 6 years old including the Junior Fire Chief's Poetry Award and the writing award of Mark Twain Junior High School. She also received a first place plaque and cash award from Kingsborough Community College. The winning poem went on to be chosen to be read by Waks in the Angelina Jolie-produced independent film, Lovesick (2005). After graduating from NYU and getting a full scholarship to the Steinhardt School and getting a B.S. in media and communication (2010) with an internship in P.R. from Lizzie Grubman P.R. Waks then submitted a paper. This paper was turned into a book "The Model Body", a health and fitness work she wrote while she was getting over borderline anorexia. Waks is working on a graphic novel titled Jane with the Nerdy Duo and Andre´ Joseph.

Awards

Waks studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute, Bill Esper Studios, UCB, and Centerstage. Waks has starred and co-starred in over 40 films and won two best actress awards at the Olympia Film Festival including best actress for the title role of Gena in Arresting Gena (1998), co-starring Adrian Grenier, Sam Rockwell, Brendan Sexton III, Summer Phoenix, Paul Giamatti, Rini Bell, Heather Matarazzo; produced by Goodmachine directed by Hannah Weyer) and 2 French Avignon Film festival best actress for lead role Rayna in the film Money Shot (1996) costarring Stephen Lang and Tamara Tunie directed by Matt Mailer and produced by Beigel/Mailer productions)

Acting

Waks went on to appear in other films including A Brothers Kiss (1997) with Rosie Perez, Justin Pierce and Marisa Tomei, Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God Be Back by 5 (1998) with Jon Cryer, One Deadly Road (1998) with Burt Young, William DeMeo and Frank Adonis, A Packing Suburbia (1999) with Michael Ealy, Remedy with Ace Frehley from KISS (2005), Priceless (2008), Night Stream (2013) with Andre´ Joseph, and The Bad Apple which featured Waks on a billboard campaign for Lydia Leung between Canal and Lafayette St. in New York City. Waks showed off her comedic side in 2009 when she cameoed in the internet comedy series, Poykpac, for Ryan Hunter. She also helped to produce and cameo in the music video for Diplo-signed artist Riff Raff and also had cameo roles in the music videos for "Midnight Sprite" and "Bo Jackson Freestyle". Waks, also a singer and songwriter, performed her self-entitled song "Fun Dip" on Fuse TV and appeared in her music video "Neck Bop" which was produced by Al McDowell and featured a cameo by Miri Ben-Ari. Aesha recently co-starred in the 4th episode of Gotham for Warner Bros. Television on the Fox Network.

Fashion and design

Waks is working on a self-entitled fashion line in which she has a vintage line and a limited edition produced line where she tears off sleeves of coats and shirts and has them snapped back on and then she spikes them. Inspired by her girl band entitled "The Acception" alongside singer/songwriter, Jessica Brown, and wanting to be able to rip her sleeves off on stage when she "gets hot." She plans to sell them at her shows, limited boutiques, and Etsy.com. Waks was chosen to style an outfit with Rachel Zoe on The Tyra Banks Show.

Modeling and hosting

Waks is the host of the Women in Fashion and Film Festival championed on by her favorite designer, Maggie Norris. She has also worked closely hosting with Chance TV. Waks is known for her cover and centerfold on High Times magazine which was also featured in Playboy magazine. She has also been in Maxim and the cover of Lifestyles Magazine. She appeared in runway shows such as Lincoln Center Fashion Week for Popluxe by Richie Rich as well as Skrapper, Chong Cha, Allen & Suzi, Patricia Fields, and various others. In 2013, Waks made a guest appearance on XOX Betsey Johnson on the Style Network.

Casting

Waks has worked behind the scenes for MTV as a crowd hyper and casting director and as a production assistant for The Andy Milonakis Show (2005), an associate producer on Good Humor (2002), and When the Devil Comes (2013).

Waks has been appearing on page 6 of the New York Post since the release of her movie "A Packing Suburbia" in 1999. Most recently with her former fiancé Liam McMullan, son of photographer Patrick McMullan. The couple had a band called Danger who recorded the song "Bad Press" produced by Michael Jackson's protege, Eddy Cascio.

Relationships

Waks's relationship ended with Liam in 2013.