Aistė Diržiūtė

Aistė Diržiūtė is a Lithuanian actress best known for her role as Austė in The Summer of Sangaile (Lithuanian: Sangailė or Sangailės Vasara).

Early life and career beginnings

Diržiūtė was born in Vilkaviškis.

From 1998 to 2005, Diržiūtė studied piano at a Vilkaviškis music school. In 2010 she moved to Vilnius where she studied music at the Vilnius college of higher education for a year and then entered the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. During her studies, Diržiūtė appeared in several commercials and got small roles in TV series.

2015-present: Breakthrough

In 2015 Diržiūtė made her film debut. She co-starred in Robert Mullan's movie based on real events, We Will Sing, and was cast as one of the lead roles in Alantė Kavaitė's The Summer of Sangaile.

After The Summer of Sangaile premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, Diržiūtė was noticed by film critics and became the first Lithuanian actress named as one of the European Shooting Stars, alongside actors such as Maisie Williams and Moe Dunford.Diržiūtė also won the award for Best Lithuanian Actress at the Vilnius International Film Festival and was nominated for both Sidabrinė gervė and KINFO awards.

After her success, she became a face of the “Body Talk” collection in May 2015.

In 2016, Diržiūtė starred in Kings' Shift directed by Ignas Miškinis and the short film "Back" directed by Gabrielė Urbonaitė. Both films premiered at the Vilnius International Film Festival. She plays the role of Simona in an independent short, "Sexy to the Point," produced by students from Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Diržiūtė continues to act in both Lithuanian and foreign productions. She was cast as Marina Malich in an upcoming Russian biographical drama "Kharms," written and directed by Ivan Bolotnikov. Diržiūtė was cast as Joana in Ashes in the Snow, based on the best-selling book Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys and in the Latvian film "Nameja Gredzens." The latter two films are scheduled to premiere in 2017.