West End actress undergoes dramatic transformation from gritty Netflix role to stunning red carpet appearance

She’s currently starring alongside Sheridan Smith in West End show Opening Night, in which she plays a character called Nancy. 

And this actress – who is aged 28, looked worlds apart from her role in harrowing a Netflix series, when she walked the red carpet at the event at London’s Ham Yard Hotel on Tuesday night. 

This superstar looked incredible going braless under an extreme plunging black dress as she posed for pictures. 

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Her make-up was expertly applied and she wore her mid-length brown hair in a sleep and straight style. 

But can you guess who it is? 

This West End actress looks worlds apart from her breakthrough role in a harrowing Netflix series as she put on a glamourous display on the Opening Night red carpet on Tuesday

She stars alongside the main star, Sheridan Smith, (who is third from right), in the show and plays a character called Nancy 

The actress can be seen witih her arms around Sheridan during one scene from the critically-acclaimed show 

That’s right, it’s Shira Haas, who played protagonist Esther ‘Esty’ Shapiro, in Netflix series Unorthodox.  

Shira was critically acclaimed for role in the 2020  drama, which saw her nominated for a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award. 

The series tells the story of a 19-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman who flees her arranged marriage and religious community to start a new life abroad in Berlin. 

Shira’s character famously shaves her head in the series as Satmar tradition dictates and she told Variety that the very real moment was all shot in one take. 

She said: ‘You see 20 seconds of this scene in the episode, but it took eight minutes nonstop, two cameras, one take, that’s it.

‘I just had the rollercoaster of emotions and, of course, it was also real.’

Reflecting on the role, Shira – who was born in Tel Aviv to a Jewish family told British Vogue that she didn’t know about many of the practises in this community, including shaving your head after marriage. 

Recalling having to be filmed having her hair shaved, Shira confessed she was shocked to learn it would be one of the first scenes she shot. 

She said: ‘That was the final scene on the first day of shooting. When Maria [Schrader, the director] told me it was going to happen right at the beginning, I was so shocked. 

That’s right, it’s Shira Haas! The Israeli actress, 28, played Esty, a 19-year-old Jewish woman who runs away from her Ultra-Orthodox community in New York City to start a life in Berlin

Shira – who was born in Tel Aviv to a Jewish family – told Vogue that she didn’t know about many of the practises in this community, including shaving your head after marriage – and she really shaved her head for the role, which happened in one take, on her first day of filming

Esther ‘Esty’ Shapiro, decides to flee the Hasidic Jewish community and her arranged marriage to Yanky [Amit Rahav]

‘But, it was great because it really got me into character. Of course, your head can only be shaved once so I knew it would be one take and I had to get it right.

‘I was nervous, but I was willing to do it in order to tell this story.’

The reason why Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women shave their heads has been disputed, with Rabbi Avram Mlotek telling Refinery29 that some religious interpretations determine ‘woman’s hair to be nakedness and part of the alluring nature of the effeminate.’

Other websites about Jewish tradition and culture state that the only person who should see a married woman’s hair is her husband.

Shira spent months researching the Ultra-Orthodox community, explaining to Vogue, ‘every Jewish community is different and you really can’t generalise.’

The actress revealed she travelled to Berlin two months before filming began in order to learn Yiddish, which she revealed is ‘very different’ to her native Hebrew.

Shira also had to take piano and singing lessons in preparation for the role, and several consultations with the show’s religious consultant, revealing that the cast rehearsed for two full days before filming the wedding scene to ensure it looked authentic.

The star had a tough time growing up. She has spoken openly about her childhood battle with kidney cancer, which she was diagnosed with aged two. 

She recovered two years later after a series of treatments.

‘It’s definitely part of me.’ she said. ‘I mean, I don’t remember my life before it. It’s not like it happened to me when I was older or more mature, so I could think of the before and after.

‘It was really kind of like my starting point in life, so it’s hard to say what would have happened if not, lucky for us, we don’t need to.’

Shira has gone onto enjoy huge success as an actress since becoming a household name. 

She starred as Iris Maplewood in Bodies, a Netflix series about four detectives in four different time periods of London who find themselves investigating the same murder. 

And she is playing Sabra, an Israeli superheroine in Captain America: Brave New World, which will be released in 2025.

Opening Night runs from March 6 to  July 27.