Actor

Switzerland · Female

3 series in the catalog

Kadia Saraf is a Swiss-Israeli actress. She is best known for playing Detective Claudette Wallace in the crime drama mystery series Dexter: Resurrection and U.S. Attorney Anya Avital in the crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Early life

Saraf was born in Bern, Switzerland to a Yemeni-Israel father and a Swiss mother. She moved to Northern Israel at the age of four and remained there for ten years, before moving back to Switzerland at age fourteen. She got a degree in structural engineering from BBM in Kreuzlingen. She then moved to Tel Aviv where she served as an ambulance driver at Magen David Adom, Israel's national medical emergency service.

Saraf has trained in Kenpo Jitsu. She won the Israeli National Championship title in 2001.

In 2004, Saraf moved to New York where she started her acting career. She is fluent in English, Hebrew, German, and Swiss German, and also speaks some French and Arabic. She has been studying American Sign Language.

Career

Saraf made her on screen debut in an episode of the comedy drama series Rescue Me. She was never on a TV set prior to appearing on this show. She has made guest appearances in the police procedural shows Blue Blood and FBI: International. In 2021, Saraf was cast in a recurring role as U.S. Attorney Anya Avital in the crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime.

She currently stars as Detective Claudette Wallace in Dexter: Resurrection.

Personal life

Saraf has three children. She was married to Terry Serpico who she met on the set of SVU. She is an advocate for the deaf community.