Olja Mladjenović

A short story

Olja is an actor, writer, presenter and visual artist living and working in London. Born in Bosnia, Olja grew up in Canada, and later moved to the UK to obtain an MSc in Archaeological Conservation. As a researcher Olja has worked with the Apolline Project, Balkan Cave Archaeology and the Çatalhöyük Research project. She has published on conservation techniques at Çatalhöyük and led a Petzl funded and NatGeo shortlisted project on Balkan deep cave zone conservation.

In 2019 Olja retrained at the Actor’s Temple in London. She has since worked in London as an actor and body double on stage and in film/TV, and as a producer and writer.

This year Olja has debuted as a motorsports presenter in Formula 1, as Olivia Mark.

In 2022 Olja won the Creative Future’s Writing Award and published her work FISH in the How it Started anthology.  This achievement sparked Olja's writing career. As a Bosnian refugee her writing work explores themes of belonging, identity and relationships. She is a 2024/25 London Library Emerging Writer.

This year she is the associate writer/artist on Voice Notes. Voice Notes is an international exhibition funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in collaboration with poet Sarah Jackson and sound artist Hardi Kurda - delivered in partnership by Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, Slemani UNESCO City of Literature, refugee arts charities Compass Collective, Step-UK and Refugee Roots and The New Art Exchange.

In 2021 she co-founded Studio Imposters with Helena Vondrus. Studio Imposters is a creative studio which strives to bring a physical narrative to ideas that feel disembodied through a range of media. Their debut art installation Floi was displayed at the Concrete Block Gallery as a part of Architecture Fringe 2021 and subsequently transferred to Summerhall in Edinburgh for their 2021 winter exhibition.

Olja's acting and visual art has been featured in the London Literature Festival - Southbank Centre,  Wallpaper*, Summerhall, The BBC, ArtMag, Entertainment LA and My Theatre Mates.