Marissa Anita

Anita is of Minangese Indonesian descent from her mother's side and a mix of Javanese and Chinese descent from her father's side.^[1] She is the middle child in her family and she has an older brother and a younger brother. Anita graduated top of her class with a bachelor's degree in TESL from Atma Jaya Catholic University in 2005, followed by a master's degree in Media Practice from the University of Sydney in 2007 and another master's degree in Digital Media and Society from Loughborough University in 2017.^[2]

Anita began acting in stage plays in theater with The Jakarta Players community in 2005 while she was still studying in school and has since starred in more than a dozen plays.^[3][4] Upon completing her master's degree in Sydney, she joined the 24-hour news station Metro TV in 2008 as a reporter before becoming an anchor for the 8–11 program alongside Tommy Tjokro and Prabu Revolusi as well as the weekly English-language news program Indonesia Now alongside former CNN anchor Dalton Tanonaka.^[5]

In 2010, Anita starred opposite Atiqah Hasiholan in Broken Vase, a queer short film directed by Edward Gunawan.^[6] The following year, she again starred opposite Hasiholan in Borrowed Time, another short film co-directed by Gunawan and Lucky Kuswandi.^[7] In both short films, she was credited as Marissa Trigg. Anita then had cameo and minor roles in films such as Wanita Tetap Wanita, Nia Dinata's Arisan! 2, Joko Anwar's Ritual, and Rako Prijanto's 3 Nafas Likas.^[8]

Anita left Metro TV and joined NET in 2013 to host the Indonesia Morning Show.^[9] Since then, she began to appear in more substantial film roles while still maintaining her job as a television presenter. In 2014, she had a breakthrough with a role in Lucky Kuswandi's sophomore feature film In the Absence of the Sun. Her performance as Naomi, a former lover of Adinia Wirasti's character Anggia, garnered praise and earned her a Maya Award for Best New Actress.^[9]

Anita's next film appearances did not come until 2016 with a leading role in Yosep Anggi Noen's biographical drama Solo, Solitude as Sipon, the wife of disappeared poet and activist Widji Thukul^[10] and a supporting role in Kuswandi's 2017 drama Galih & Ratna as Tantri, the aunt of the titular character Ratna played by Sheryl Sheinafia.^[11] She was nominated for a Maya Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Solo, Solitude and a Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter.^[8]

In March 2019, Anita launched Greatmind.id, an online media platform that explores ideas, aspirations, and advocacy on various topics of life, serving as its lead editor.^[12] In June, Anita left her job at NET, months before she was billed to appear in two Joko Anwar's projects. In August, she appeared as Kurniati Dewi, the mother of Sancaka, in Gundala, the first entry in the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe film series. In October, she co-starred as Dini, the best friend of Tara Basro's character Maya in Impetigore, alongside Ario Bayu and Christine Hakim. Both films were critical and commercial success, with Impetigore being selected as the Indonesian entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards and breaking the record for most nominations at the 40th Citra Awards.^[13] Anita received her second Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for Impetigore, but lost to co-star Christine Hakim. She then reunited with Yosep Anggi Noen for The Science of Fictions.^[14]

In 2020, Anita appeared in two segments of the anthology film Quarantine Tales.^[15] She joined Najwa Shihab's Narasi TV in July to host her own talkshow Enaknya Diobrolin and the newly launched SEA Today in October to host its flagship morning news program.^[16]

Anita next appeared in Kamila Andini's Yuni and Lucky Kuswandi's Netflix original Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens. For her performance as Mia Harrington in the latter, she won the Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress, beating her co-star Asri Welas, Yuni co-star Asmara Abigail, Dea Panendra (Photocopier), and Djenar Maesa Ayu (Cinta Bete).^[17]