Romana Vrede was born in Suriname and moved to The Netherlands at a young age. She played at the theater with Onafhankelijk Toneel, Compagnie Dakar, Bogaerdt/VanderSchoot, Bonheur, Artemis and the Noord Nederlands Toneel. In 2016 she made the play Who’s Afraid of Charlie Stevens about her mentally handicapped and autistic son. Romana played in productions like Moordvrouw, Hiernamaals and Oom Henk.
She’s part of the ensemble of Het Nationale Theater. With Eric de Vroedt she worked on plays like The Nation, for which she was nominated for a Colombina (Best Supporting Theater Actress) and Race, for which she received a Theo d’Or (Best Leading Theater Actress). For the last couple of years she has worked on Tijd Zal Ons Leren about the heroes during colonial times, turning it into a podcast, talkshow, theater play and television registration. The Dutch Theatre Jury has selected Tijd Zal Ons Leren as one of the most impressive productions of the past season. Additionally, Romana has been nominated for the Theo d’Or for the most groundbreaking stage performance.
Romana recently worked on films like De Matchmaker, Anne+ and De Zitting. For the feature film I Don’t Wanna Dance by Flynn von Kleist she received a Dutch Academy Award nomination in 2021. She also worked on shows like Follow de Soa, Seef Spees and Santos. Next season she will play a lead in the second season of Arcadia and the new Disney+ show Nemesis.