Jackie English

Jackie English is a Canadian television host, actress, dancer, choreographer, director, filmmaker and performer. She is best known for hosting the TVOntario children's block TVOKids, writing/directing the Telefilm feature film Becoming Burlesque and performances on TV and stage at theatres throughout Ontario and Toronto incl. Mirvish Panasonic, Petrolia Playhouse, Huron County (Cats) etc.

Early life

English was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised by her mother Dian English, who was the managing director at the Factory Theatre. English later moved to Montreal were she graduated from McGill University in the top 5% in Mechanical Engineering. After university she worked for a year at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in Montreal as a consultant before becoming a full time performing artist.

Career

After leaving the corporate world, English became a host of TVOKids, TVOntario's after school block of children's programs, alongside Milton Barns, Mark Sykes and Nicole Stamp, and later Ryan Fields. English appeared in live interstitial breaks between shows such as Art Attack, Arthur, Dino Dan and The Magic School Bus. During these segments she would talk to viewers, perform original characters including Jigsaw Jill and interview noteworthy Canadians including Robert Munsch and Perdita Felician. English also appeared in number of original TVO Kids series BOD TV, as Artbot in Artbot, Nifty Girl in Super Citizens, the mayor in The Reading Rangers, and was the in-house choreographer for music videos. Later English became the on-location host to in-studio hosts Kara Harun and Dalmar Abuzeid, where she reported on kids news including interviewing Chris Bosh, visiting Cirque du Soleil and the ROM. Best known was her 40 episodes of the series Jackie's School of Dance which was nominated for two A.C.T. Awards.

In 2008 English co-opened a theatre space and bar in Kensington Market called the Bread and Circus which hosted festivals such as NXNE, the Toronto Fringe Festival, Canadian Music Week. She performed there in the first fringe festival hit by Hein and Sankoff (later authors of Come from Away) which she performed produced by Mirvish Production at the [[Panasonic Theatre] . English was an actor, assistant director and choreographer in this production.

In 2011 Jackie English wrote and directed her first film, a one minute short film called NIMBY which won first prize at the Toronto Urban Film Festival[1] where judge Atom Egoyan called it "extraordinary."[2] She then started a film collective called The Splinter Unit which produced 8 films, including Out directed by Jeremy Lalonde, which premiered at TIFF.

In 2017 English's first feature film Becoming Burlesque,[3] starring Shiva Negar with the support of Telefilm, premiered at Whistler Film Festival. The film was the opening film at the Canadian Film Festival and won Best Film at the Tryon Film Festival in North Carolina before its Canadian and American Theatrical release, followed by digital distribution in North America on iTunes and Amazon. English was declared a Canadian Director To Watch[4] by Broadway World.

As an actress, English has appeared in TV series CBC's Frankie Drake Mysteries, new Netflix Series Dare Me, Rookie Blue, and Beauty and the Beast.

As a choreographer English created 60 episodes of TFO series Minivers, dances for Second City MainStage, I, Martin Short, Goes Home.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
2011 Christmas Magic Nurse Hallmark
2011 NIMBY[5] Writer/Director Winner of TUFF
2012 Anitviral Waitress Directed by Brandon Cronenberg
2015 Duty Calls Director / Producer Funded by BravoFact!
2017 Becoming Burlesque Writer / Director Produced by Telefilm
2019 Buffaloed Drunk Woman Directed by Tanya Wexler
2019 The Education of Fredrick Fitzell Violet Directed by Christopher MacBride
Television
Series Role Notes
Dare Me Deena Diaz Produced by Netflix
Grand Army Shopkeeper Produced by Netflix
Frankie Drake Mysteries Vera Jean Produced by Shaftesbury
Cracked Passenger Produced by CBC
Beauty and the Beast Janie Aired on CBS
Rookie Blue Brooke Sloane Aired on Global, ABC
TVO Kids Self Produced by TVO
The Reading Rangers The Mayor of Docville Produced by TVO
Super Citezens Nifty Girl Produced by TVO
BodTV Various Produced by TVO
Tumbletown Tales Various Produced by TVO
Artbot Arbot Produced by TVO
Jackie's School of Dance Self / Choeogrpaher Produced by TVO
Martin Short Goes Home Choreographer Produced by Second City
Minivers Choreographer Produced by TFO

Awards, festivals and nominations

Year Nominated work Role Association Category Result
2008 Tumbletown Tales (TVO) Voice Actor Gemini Awards Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series[6] Nominated
2009 Jackie's School of Dance (TVO) Choreographer Alliance of Children's Television Awards Best Children's TV Series Nominated
2011 NIMBY Director Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF) Best Film Winner
2014 Out (written by Jeremy Lalonde) Producer Director's Guild of Canada Best Short Film Nominated
2016 Duty Calls (written by Sean Cullen) Director/Producer Canadian Film Festival Best Actress in a Short[7] Winner
BravoFACT! $30 000 Grant Winner
2017 Becoming Burlesque[8] Director/Writer Tryon International Film Festival Best Film[9] Winner
Audience Choice Award Winner
Star Ranch Texas Nudist Film Festival Audience Choice Award Winner
Whistler Film Festival Borsos Award Nominated
Canadian Film Festival Official Selection Opening Film[10]
Regina International Film Festival

and Awards (RIFFA)

Best Feature[11] Nominated
2019 Diamonds in the Rough Director Toronto International Short Festival Official Selection

References

  1. Hatfield, Erin (October 10, 2011). "First time director wins TUFF". InsideHalton.com. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  2. "Winners Announced For 5th Annual Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF) | Toronto Urban Film Festival". www.torontourbanfilmfestival.com. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  3. Rogerinorlando (August 20, 2019). "Movie Review: Muslim woman discovers the freedom of "Becoming Burlesque"". Movie Nation. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  4. "6 Canadian Directors to Watch: "Making Unsettling Films Which Challenge Ourselves"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  5. "Just Another Day | Toronto Urban Film Festival". www.torontourbanfilmfestival.com. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  6. Tumbletown Tales - IMDb, retrieved December 19, 2019
  7. April 4, Regan Reid; 2016. "Canadian Film Fest announces 2016 winners". Retrieved December 19, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. "Becoming Burlesque | Film Threat". August 23, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  9. Frank Calo - Becoming Burlesque - Best Overall at TRYON 18, retrieved December 19, 2019
  10. "2018 Schedule". Canadian Film Fest. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  11. "2018 Winners- RIFFA". riffa.ca. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
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