Sylvaine Strike is a South African actress, writer and theatre director based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Strike was born in Pretoria.^{[citation needed]} She studied at the University of Cape Town and graduated with a degree in drama in 1993. Strike studied further from 1998 to 2000 in Paris at Jacques LeCoq School where completed a two year diploma with a focus in mime and clown.^[1][2][3]

Strike was awarded the Rosalie van den Gucht Best New Director in 2004.^{[citation needed]} In 2006, Strike was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama. In 2010, she was one of twenty-five nominees for the Rolex Mentor Protégé Arts Initiative.^[17]

Strike won the Fleur du Cap Best Director Theatre Award for her acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's Endgame for the Baxter Theatre Centre, Cape Town. Endgame was also awarded Best Production and Best Actor.^{[citation needed]}

As a performer Strike has won the Naledi Best Actress Award 2004 and 2006 for her roles in Black and Blue and Coupé. She has further been nominated in the Best Director category at the Naledi, Fleur du Cap and Woordfees Awards 2016 for her direction of the critically acclaimed plays Tobacco and Dop. The Miser won her the Naledi Best Director Award 2012 and Best Production of a Play 2012.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, Strike's production of Butcher Brothers was awarded the Naledi Award for Best-Cutting Edge Production.^[18] In 2014, Strike was recognized as the Featured Artist at the National Arts Festival in South Africa. As featured artist, Strike worked the arts festival committee to create a retrospective of her work.^[19] Strike was awarded a 2017 SAFTA in the category Best Supporting Actress - TV Comedy for her work on the show Those Who Can't.^[14] Strike was nominated for a Kanna Award for her direction of DOP in 2017.^[20]

Strike was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2018 for her contribution to the performing arts.^[1]