EXCLUSIVE: Get To Know Actress Andrea Stefanci – Upcoming Roles Confirmed!

Actress Andrea Stefanci opens up about her journey in entertainment, her upcoming television projects, the creative influences that inspire her, and the personal experiences that have shaped her life and career. From working across international markets to exploring complex characters on screen, Andrea shares an inside look at her passion for storytelling and what audiences can expect next. Read further to read our exclusive Q & A with Andrea:

Q: You are now professionally known as Andrea Stefanci. Can you tell us about the name change?

Andrea Stefanci — A: I am being interviewed as Andrea Stefanci for the first time, but you might notice, or people might know me as Stefancikova. It was actually just about a year ago that my management and I made the transition to Andrea Stefanci, which is a cleaner and easier version for the global market.

However, I am already well-established as Andrea Stefancikova back home, so I will keep using my full native name exclusively for all of my work in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. They really love and appreciate their traditional names there, so it makes perfect sense to keep it for those markets while using Stefanci for the rest of the world.

Q: Where are you originally from, and where are you based now?

Andrea Stefanci — A: I was born in Bratislava, then part of Czechoslovakia and now the capital of Slovakia. My family and I immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, when I was 16. I spent a few years between Toronto and Montreal, and also in Italy, Spain, and the Middle East, which has given me the opportunity to experience different cultures, languages, and ways of life.

Today, I maintain homes in both Vancouver and Bratislava, which feels like a natural reflection of who I am and how I work. Vancouver gives me a strong base in North America, while Bratislava provides an ideal base for working throughout Europe. Having both allows me to move comfortably between the two worlds and pursue opportunities on either side of the Atlantic.

I’m fluent in English, Italian, and Slovak, with a strong command of Czech and Russian. I also understand and speak basic Spanish and even some French. I’ve even used my voice in German, which I studied in elementary school.

Q: What motivates and inspires you to be the best at your profession in acting, and do you have a top three favorite actors, filmmakers, or directors you would like to work with in the business?

Andrea Stefanci — A: Acting, for me, has always been about honesty, connection, curiosity, and vulnerability. I’m drawn to listening deeply, finding the emotional truth of a moment, and taking on roles that challenge me. The most interesting work often begins where I feel slightly uncomfortable.

Having lived and worked across different languages, cultures, and countries, I’m naturally drawn to stories that cross borders and reveal something universal about people. I’m especially interested in raw, intimate stories that explore contradiction, vulnerability, desire, and uncomfortable truths.

I like artists who build their careers while remaining grounded, curious, and connected to life beyond their work. I’m especially inspired by people who have overcome hardship without relying on privilege or nepotism and who bring honesty, humanity, kindness, and resilience to both their lives and their art. To me, success is not only about talent or recognition, but also about how you treat others and what you contribute to the world.

At this point, I’m less interested in being predictable than in being unforgettable.

This is a hard ask, but the top actors I’d love to work with who come to mind right this moment are Marion Cotillard, Mads Mikkelsen, Mahershala Ali, Frances McDormand, oh, and Connor Storrie. They each have extraordinary presence, range, and emotional depth… and I could go on about them and other actors whose work I respect.

And out of my long list of filmmakers, here are some that would be a dream to work with: David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Xavier Dolan, Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Céline Song, Joachim Trier, Steve McQueen, Quentin Tarantino, even Kristen Stewart as a director, Tereza Nvotová, Peter Bebjak, Ivan Ostrochovský… They each have such distinctive voices, and I’m drawn to their ability to explore intimacy, identity, alienation, and the contradictions of human behavior through very personal visual and narrative languages.

Then, of course, it’s uniquely rewarding to work with friends. That’s always special in its own way.

Ultimately, I want to be part of work that stays with people—stories that move, challenge, and create conversations. I want to keep feeling fulfilled, both in my personal life and work.

Q: Can you share with us something people may not know about you? Are there any hobbies or other talents you have or enjoy in your spare time?

Andrea Stefanci — A: There are quite a few things. I’ve loved dancing ever since I was a little girl. I love to stretch and dance in my home gym, which is usually how I end my workouts, and I completely lose myself in it. Honestly, if I hear a song that gets me moving—and there are a lot of those—I will literally start dancing anywhere.

I also LOVE music. I grew up with it, so it’s always been a big part of my life. I listen to pretty much every genre. I love discovering new music too and I love to sing. I’m constantly looking up lyrics and singing at full volume around the house, with absolutely no concern for whether anyone else actually wants to hear me.

I also daydream a lot—which probably comes in handy as an actor—and I’ve had a book written for many years that I still haven’t published. It was actually optioned by a fairly prominent producer at one point, so maybe one day it will finally make its way into the world.

I’m also a mum, and it might just be my favorite role to date. I love cooking and baking, and making crafts with my son. I’m a big reader as well and almost always have four or five books going at the same time.

And, somewhat randomly, I actually love cleaning. I always have. A friend of mine who was my roommate back in the day still jokes about my obsession with clean floors and bathrooms.

Those are just a few things, but I think they all have something in common: I love getting lost in things. Whether it’s dancing, music, a book, a song, a character, cleaning, or simply making something with my son, I’m happiest when I’m completely immersed in the moment.

And, on that theme of getting lost in things, something else that is an important part of my story is that I’m a recovering addict. I speak openly about it because I believe there is strength in being honest about where we’ve been, how far we’ve come, and the things that have shaped us. It’s a part of my story, but it certainly isn’t all of who I am.

Q: What is your favorite genre when it comes to the roles you play—drama, comedy, action, thriller, or a little bit of everything?

Andrea Stefanci — A: A little bit of all. I don’t think I have one favorite genre as much as I have a preference for interesting characters and stories. But if I had to choose one, it would be drama.

I’m drawn to roles that challenge me emotionally, even physically, and allow me to explore human character. That said, I love when a story doesn’t fit neatly into one category. Some of my favorite work happens when there’s humor in sadness or seriousness, darkness alongside tenderness, or unexpected moments of lightness in a complicated character.

For me, it’s less about the genre and more about whether the role, story, and sometimes even the people involved intrigue me.

Q: What are some projects you can share that you’ve recently wrapped up or have coming up?

Andrea Stefanci — A: I just wrapped the first season of a brand-new Slovak series called DO DNA! for STVR. It’s an eight-episode dramedy centered around a divorced journalist who is struggling with alcoholism and ends up in treatment, where he’s forced to confront not only his addiction but also his relationships, his family, and quite a few demons of his own.

I play Barča, his ex-wife, who definitely has troubles of her own. She’s woven throughout the entire season, so I really got the chance to live with her and explore all of her issues over the course of the eight episodes.

The series was co-directed by Lukáš Hanulák, a Slovak-Canadian director who’s become a household name in the Czech Republic, and Matúš Krajnák, a really cool up-and-coming director.

Given my own past, what really got me when I was first approached about the show was that it deals with alcoholism, addiction, and mental health—subjects that can still be quite taboo in Slovakia—but it doesn’t approach them as this relentlessly heavy drama.

There’s humor and absurdity in it as well, and that combination gives it a really particular tone. I think it’s going to spark a lot of conversation, and possibly some controversy, so we’re all dying to see how audiences respond when it premieres. It’s currently in post-production and is expected to air on STVR around March or April of 2027.

I also have the new season of Výnimočná Nikol coming up on Markíza, which should air sometime this winter or in early spring 2027.

The series is the Slovak adaptation of the French hit HPI—the same show that was adapted in the U.S. as High Potential—so people here might already know the world. It’s a comedy-crime series, and I play Soňa Vágnerová, a strict investigator from Internal Affairs. She initially comes in to investigate Captain Kadlec, but very quickly starts looking into Nikol and her rather unconventional methods as well.

What I love is that Soňa doesn’t just remain this authority figure who comes in and makes everybody nervous. As the season unfolds, she gets pulled much deeper into their world and into the mystery surrounding Nikol’s missing former partner.

And somewhere along the way, something rather unexpected starts developing between Soňa and Captain Kadlec—the very man she originally came in to investigate. So that was a really fun turn for the character and for me to play.

Výnimočná Nikol was also the first TV show I ever acted in in my mother tongue, which I thought would be easy! Turns out, it was more challenging than what I had expected.

By the time I started my first season, I’d been living overseas or away from Slovakia for about 24 years. That’s a long time, so I had to work with a language/dialect coach for a few months.

The funny thing is, I still work with dialect coaches when I need to sound Standard American, and then I went back to Slovakia and needed one for my own language. How ironic! Things are never dull around me, that’s for sure.

And, although it’s not something I get to do too often, I also got to be part of the highly anticipated Xbox video game Gears of War: E-Day, which premieres at the beginning of October.

I can’t say anything about my character at this point, but this was definitely another beast—certainly something different for me—and I quite enjoyed it.

And looking a little further ahead, my friend Jack Cox and I are developing a feature together. It’s a psychological thriller about trust, paranoia, and the slow collapse of certainty under extraordinary pressure.

Jack is a bit of a rare gem in the writing world. He has such a distinct voice and a really interesting way of combining elevated genre storytelling with atmosphere, performance, and unconventional narrative structure. He’s also a very exciting up-and-coming genre director, and I really believe in his instincts and the worlds he creates.

It’s still early days, so I can’t reveal too much just yet, but I’m genuinely excited about this one! I also recently appeared on “The Love Heist” on the Hallmark Channel. I have another project I am preparing this winter on U.S. network, but information can’t be revealed just yet!