ACTOR | WRITER | DRAMATURG

Karla Marie Sweet is a British-American actor, screenwriter, novelist and dramaturg born and based in Manchester, UK. 

Recent acting credits include acclaimed road movie Black Dog and season 2 of Hulu’s No Man's Land. As a writer, she has multiple television credits to her name and her comedy-drama script DaSilva & Sharp landed her on the 2023 Brit List. Her theatre credits include Cheetham Hill (for the Royal Exchange), This Little Relic (BBC Radio 3 and the Belgrade Theatre) and Othello (Watermill Theatre), a re-versioning The Guardian and WhatsOnStage awarded four stars each, calling it a "remarkable" adaptation that "moves with the pace of a thriller."  

Her speculative fiction novel Another Life was released as an Audible Original in September 2024 and was performed by Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Love, Barbie). 

A former Production Trainee, Karla gained extensive experience in TV and radio across the BBC, working on Radio 1, 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, 6Music, Radio 4, Comic Relief and Casualty. Karla then got her start as a professional writer when her six-part mystery thriller was optioned by ITV Studios and she was invited to co-develop a series for Lime Pictures.

Karla has been part of several writersrooms including Netflix/BBC show Get Even, season 2 of Paramount+ show Sexy Beast and a 1990s set show about pirate radio, helmed by Ashley Walters. She has also written seven episodes of long running drama Hollyoaks. Her special unconscious bias episode of the show was lauded by both viewers and critics alike, the news media hailing it the show’s “best ever episode.” The episode went on to be the show's submission for Best Continuing Drama at the Royal Television Society Awards in 2022 - a category Hollyoaks subsequently won.

Karla’s debut full-length play Leaving opened at The Bunker Theatre in December 2019 and was subsequently offered a full run at the Pleasance, Islington. Karla starred in and co-produced the show alongside her emerging company Dead Good Theatre. She founded the company upon graduating from the one-year Acting course at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. While at Central, she performed in the school's production of Alice Birch's Astronauts and played the lead in Vault Festival's sell-out show The Thing That Came to Dinner. 

Whilst continuing to work across stage and screen as an actor and writer, Karla has also enjoyed writing regularly via her Substack, The Ampersand. She has also written for the Guardian.

As an actor, she is represented by Lucy Middleweek at Middleweek Newton and her book agent is Ben Dunn at DunnFogg. For theatre, film and TV writing enquires, please contact Jonathan Kinnersley at The Agency. For voice over work, reach out to Voice Squad and for US work, contact her managers Anna Weinstein (acting) and Stevee Jo Eads (literary) at Avalon USA. For book to film/TV rights, contact Penni Killick ar The Artists Partnership. Karla's publicist is Tori Kob at Narrative PR.