Jani discovered her love for performing at age 7 during a creative movement class. During a movement improvisation her chicken hatched from the invisible egg and she has never looked back. For years she secretly devoured Red Skelton and Dick Van Dyke re-runs until in grade 7, she graduated to a lead role playing Snow White alongside the seven dwarves.
After several years of community theatre and High School musicals (directed by her foster father Paul Kershaw) she thumbed across Canada to study visual theatre in South Paris, Maine. A passion for studying various disciplines brought her in contact with some of the worlds best instructors including, David Smukler (voice/text), Patsy Rodenburg (voice), Bill Vincent (singing), Yoshi Oida (acting), and Cathy Kennedy McKinnon (Shakespeare).
Jani is a three time Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated actress and has enjoyed such theatre roles as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Raven in Whale, White Girl in the world premier of Almighty Voice and his Wife, Selsa in the Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Yvette in the National Arts Centre production of Mother Courage. As Co-Managing Artistic Director of Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble she was "joint author" of 4 plays that toured internationally. She received a Best Actress Award at Dreamspeakers Film Festival and Best Supporting Actress at the American Indian Film Festival for her portrayal of Doris in A Windigo Tale.
Jani is currently developing a theatre show with a creative team that includes John Turner in the helm or director, Marsha Coffey as Sound Designer and Jessica Barrera as Aerial Hoop choreographer.
Contact:
Fran Messinger
Messinger Agency
416-960-1000
messinger@bellnet.ca