Zygimante Elena Jakstaite, born in Kaunas, Lithuania, has captured the attention of the industry and public as an exciting, emerging acting talent on the stage and screen in Lithuania. She studied acting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and is a skilled musician on the violin as well as a trained singer (mezzo-soprano). On stage, Zygimante's theatre credits are noteable, exceeding more than 20 roles, including Durys (Jo Strogmen, Norway) at the National Theatre of Lithuania and Vestuves (Oskaras Korsunovas, Lithuania) at the Vilnius City Theatre. After firmly establishing her credentials in the theater world, Zygimante leaped enthusiastically into a parallel career in film in 2017, which was launched with supporting roles in both short and feature films. She recently won her first leading role in the upcoming Lithuanian - Czech feature co-production, Runner by Andrius Blazevicius. Blazevicius' previous film, The Saint, was nominated in eleven categories for the Lithuanian Film Awards, winning in six, and has won jury awards at various prestigious film festivals around the globe. Runner will be released in 2021.

The young Lithuanian actress, now selected for the 2021 Shooting Stars, discusses going from theatre to film and what her career might lead her to, as well as the work of Pawel Pawlikowski, the director she would love to work with.