Cosima Shaw grew up in Berlin, Germany. Her mother is German and a classical violinist and her father is an American writer. She trained, briefly, in musical theatre in Berlin, building on her childhood passions of singing and dance, before deciding on an academic path, instead, and absolving the German Abitur. Despite early appearances in school theatre productions, commercials and television, she did not pursue acting as a profession until later. Instead, she worked as a model in London, Paris and New York and has starred in numerous adverts. Her first big acting break came when she was cast as the German lesbian receptionist in the BBC1 comedy, Trevor's World of Sport (2003), written and directed by Andy Hamilton. This led to parts in feature films, such as V pour vendetta (2005), as well as other appearances on British and German television. In 2009, she played a scientist on a doomed Mars mission, in one of the final "Dr. Who" specials with David Tennant. In 2010, the role of "Ana", a woman, who equally mourns and rejoices in the death of her husband from cancer, whilst trying to start again, in the British independent feature film, Ana Begins (2009), directed by Ben O'Connor, won her "Best Actress" awards, both at London Independent Film Festival, as well as the British Independent Film Festival.
