# Ingrid Bisu
**Ingrid Bisu** (also credited as Ingrid Bișu or, after her marriage, Ingrid Wan) is a Romanian actress, producer, and screenwriter born in 1987 in [Bucharest](https://www.edgepedia.org/bucharest), best known for playing Anca in the comedy-drama *[Toni Erdmann](https://www.edgepedia.org/toni-erdmann)* (2016) and for her work in the horror films of her husband, director [James Wan](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-wan), including *The Nun* (2018) and *Malignant* (2021), whose story she co-wrote and co-produced.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) • [2](https://film.one/person/ingrid-bisu)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1987, Bucharest, Romania; height 1.68 m[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) |
| Professions | Actress, producer, screenwriter; IMDb lists 25 acting, 5 producing, 6 writing, and 1 directing credit[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) |
| Breakthrough role | Anca in Maren Ade's *Toni Erdmann* (2016), a film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/) • [4](https://www.sinemalar.com/sanatci/255045/ingrid-bisu) |
| Horror franchise roles | Sister Oana in *The Nun* (2018), Jessica in *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* (2021), Winnie in *Malignant* (2021)[5](https://adevarul.ro/showbiz/film/detalii-inedite-din-culisele-the-nun-filmat-in-1889337.html) • [3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/) |
| *Malignant* authorship | Story by James Wan, Ingrid Bisu, and Akela Cooper, from a screenplay by Cooper; Bisu also executive produced and played Winnie[6](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/0426/2024042601976.pdf) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-29/malignant-explained-james-wan-cult-horror) |
| Marriage | Married director James Wan on November 3, 2019[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) |
| Upcoming | Story writer and executive producer of *Soulm8te* (2026)[8](https://www.cineman.ch/person/ingrid-bisu/73751/) |
## Early life and start in Romania
Bisu was born in Bucharest and grew up in Romania's German community, attending German-language kindergarten, high school, and university in the capital.[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/) At the German College "Goethe" she studied German along with English, French, and Latin.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328)
Her entry into performance came at 16, when she appeared in a photo shoot for the Romanian teen magazine *Cool Girl* and then won her first commercial, for Orange S.A. Mobile, which aired in Israel and Romania.[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/) By her own account she won the first audition she attended, an international commercial with more than 300 girls competing, and shortly afterward took a part in one of Romania's first sitcoms, *Casatorie de proba* (Probation Marriage), playing the teenager Flori in 2004.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) In the sitcom *La bloc* she played Marilena across 41 episodes between 2004 and 2006.[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/)
Her film debut came in 2005 with a small role in *BloodRayne*, [Uwe Boll](https://www.edgepedia.org/uwe-boll)'s vampire action film, appearing alongside [Ben Kingsley](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-kingsley).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) • [9](https://www.kinobox.cz/osobnosti/724465-ingrid-bisu) After finishing college she enrolled at the Hyperion Acting University, where she recorded the highest score on admission.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328)
## Romanian film and international productions
During and after her university years Bisu appeared in a string of Romanian films. She played Viviana in *Tales from the Golden Age*, the anthology directed in part by Cristian Mungiu, winner of the 2007 [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor), and Selena in *Periferic* (Outbound, 2010).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) Her other Romanian credits include *O lume a durerii* (2006, as Alice), *Nimeni nu-i perfect* (2008, as Bianca), *Portretul luptătorului la tinerețe* (2010, as Matilda Jubleanu), and *Sunt o babă comunistă* (2013).[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/)
She also took parts in larger international productions: Minerva in *Dracula: The Dark Prince* (2013) opposite [Jon Voight](https://www.edgepedia.org/jon-voight), and a role in [Terry Gilliam](https://www.edgepedia.org/terry-gilliam)'s *[The Zero Theorem](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-zero-theorem)* (2013).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) • [8](https://www.cineman.ch/person/ingrid-bisu/73751/) By 2023 she had accumulated more than 20 screen roles.[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/)
## Toni Erdmann
The role that brought international recognition was Anca in Maren Ade's *Toni Erdmann*, a 162-minute comedy-drama released in 2016 in which an aging consultant tries to reconnect with his career-focused daughter through an alter ego.[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/) • [8](https://www.cineman.ch/person/ingrid-bisu/73751/) The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.[4](https://www.sinemalar.com/sanatci/255045/ingrid-bisu) German film databases list her as part of the cast across the film's 2014–2016 production window.[10](https://www.filmportal.de/person/ingrid-bisu_94024d5816dc49ee834672205f8be348)
## The Conjuring universe
Bisu then joined the horror franchise built by James Wan and [Peter Safran](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-safran). In *The Nun* (2018), a Conjuring-universe prequel set in a 1952 Romanian abbey and shot entirely in Romania, she played Sister Oana, alongside Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Bonnie Aarons, and [Jonas Bloquet](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonas-bloquet).[5](https://adevarul.ro/showbiz/film/detalii-inedite-din-culisele-the-nun-filmat-in-1889337.html) In *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* (2021) she played Jessica.[3](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/) She also had a small part as a pier waitress in Wan's *Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom* (2023) and as a wedding guest in *The Conjuring: Last Rites* (2025).[2](https://film.one/person/ingrid-bisu)
## Malignant: story, production, and role
*Malignant* (2021) is the project where Bisu's behind-the-camera work became central. The film is based on a story by Wan, Bisu, and Akela Cooper, from a screenplay by Cooper.[6](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/0426/2024042601976.pdf) Wan has repeatedly credited his wife with the origin: she came to him with research she had done on medical anomalies, and the premise of a living evil twin or teratoma grew from there.[11](https://www.thewrap.com/malignant-movie-explained-james-wan/) In a French interview Wan said everything started from a real scientific concept that Bisu, who wrote the story and is one of the producers, presented to him.[12](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18702317.html)
Bisu described her own fascination in an interview with the Los Angeles Times: "I was always obsessed with medical anomalies and the idea of parasitic twins." She and Wan laid out a rough story treatment with character and plot points, including what became an action sequence set in a jail cell and police station; at a meeting with Cooper, Bisu asked, "Have you heard of a teratoma?"[7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-29/malignant-explained-james-wan-cult-horror) In the finished film she appears as Winnie, a lovelorn crime scene technician, and serves as executive producer.[7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-29/malignant-explained-james-wan-cult-horror) The killer Gabriel, revealed as the protagonist's parasitic twin, was brought to life with animatronics and contortionists in work Wan and Bisu discussed in a spoiler interview after release.[13](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/3683034/james-wan-ingrid-bisu-brought-malignant-killer-gabriel-life-spoiler-interview/) Wan framed the film as a deliberate return to the grittier style of his early career, describing it as "not just a genre-bender but a genre blender."[14](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/malignant-james-wan-interview-gritty-roots)
## Later and upcoming work
Bisu is story writer and executive producer of *[Soulm8te](https://www.edgepedia.org/soulm8te)*, a thriller scheduled for 2026, and she holds story or idea credits on the pre-production projects *Cosmetic* and the television series *Concrete Jungle*.[8](https://www.cineman.ch/person/ingrid-bisu/73751/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) Her earlier producing and writing credits include the Romanian television series *Cafeaua de dimineata* (2011–2012) and the mini-series *Super Yolo Show* (2013).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328)
## Personal life
Bisu became engaged to the Malaysian-Australian director James Wan in June 2019 and married him on November 3, 2019.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328) She has appeared in several of his films, and the couple developed the story of *Malignant* together at home.[7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-29/malignant-explained-james-wan-cult-horror) According to a Turkish film database, she lives in Los Angeles.[4](https://www.sinemalar.com/sanatci/255045/ingrid-bisu)
## References
1. [Ingrid Bisu, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2445328)
2. [Ingrid Bisu, Fi1m](https://film.one/person/ingrid-bisu)
3. [Ingrid Bisu, CineMagia.ro](https://www.cinemagia.ro/actori/ingrid-bisu-130019/)
4. [Ingrid Bisu, Sinemalar.com](https://www.sinemalar.com/sanatci/255045/ingrid-bisu)
5. [Detalii inedite din culisele „The Nun", filmat în România, Adevărul](https://adevarul.ro/showbiz/film/detalii-inedite-din-culisele-the-nun-filmat-in-1889337.html)
6. [Company description of Malignant, HKEXnews filing (April 2024)](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/0426/2024042601976.pdf)
7. [Why James Wan's 'Malignant' is the cult horror film of 2021, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-29/malignant-explained-james-wan-cult-horror)
8. [Ingrid Bisu, Cineman](https://www.cineman.ch/person/ingrid-bisu/73751/)
9. [Ingrid Bisu, Kinobox.cz](https://www.kinobox.cz/osobnosti/724465-ingrid-bisu)
10. [Ingrid Bisu, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/person/ingrid-bisu_94024d5816dc49ee834672205f8be348)
11. ['Malignant' Director James Wan on Making an Intentionally Meme-Worthy Horror Movie, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/malignant-movie-explained-james-wan/)
12. [Malignant par James Wan : entretien, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18702317.html)
13. [Animatronics and Contortionists: How James Wan and Ingrid Bisu Brought 'Malignant' Killer Gabriel to Life, Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/3683034/james-wan-ingrid-bisu-brought-malignant-killer-gabriel-life-spoiler-interview/)
14. [James Wan says 'Malignant' goes back to his gritty roots, SYFY WIRE](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/malignant-james-wan-interview-gritty-roots)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Surnames symbols to K*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license