ABOUT ME
"You have the most facial expressions I have ever seen"
This is usually what people say after they see me in a show. I see it as the strangest, and most self-identifying compliment I have ever heard. This is the phrase my parents could hear from a stranger and say "Well, yeah! I could've told you that, JADA."
Originally from Thornhill, Ontario, I have been surrounded by musicals and the arts all of my life. I grew up listening to Les Miserables, Tommy, and Joseph...Dreamcoat, while jumping around in my father's oversized boots. My family decided to put me in dance class, where I trained competitively in Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Hip-Hop, and Musical Theatre for over 12 years at All That Dance Studios. I was usually in the back row, and couldn't seem to find my ground, until I took matters into my own hands.
At my dance studio's annual holiday party, competitive dancers are given a couple hours to choreograph their own numbers. I prepared for three weeks, rehearsed privately after dance classes, coordinated costumes, props, and shoe changes for this solo number. I presented "If They Could See Me Now" from Sweet Charity to the entire dance school, and was offered my first of many musical theatre solos the following year.
After competitive dancing, I continued my post-secondary arts education at Randolph College for the Performing Arts in Toronto, ON. I learned from some of the most inspiring, creative teachers that have no boundaries when it comes to making the arts industry the best it can be. I am in awe of them and my classmates everyday.
Eight years in the professional industry, I have been incredibly fortunate to perform across Canada, Singapore, and Qatar as a lead in theatre for younger audience contracts. I have been featured on Discovery Channel and Buzzfeed, and has been part of various productions at Lower Ossington Theatre, Summerworks, and Toronto Fringe Festival, where I received the BackDoora Award for Best Performance from a Female Lead in Quarter Life Crisis the Musical. I have had opportunities to direct a full season of shows for various age groups, produce full-sized musicals as well as small venued-plays. After RCPA, I continued developing my acting at Carter Thor Studios, Straeon Acting Studios, Milne Studio Toronto, and continue to train privately with vocal coach, Ryan Luchuck.
When I perform, I want to make a difference to the audience; make them think, and feel something they could never admit to themselves in their daily lives. Theatre has changed my life, and I want nothing more than to provide that for an audience.
(Theo and Jada photography credit: LV Imagery)