Jessica has been living in Montreal, Canada since 2017. She is of mixed Indigenous (Abenaki) and European (Irish, Polish and Scottish) heritage. She is a proud member of Odanak First Nation and carries an official "Indian Status" card. Jessica has been working in the arts since she was five years old. Her first professional work was as an actor was at the age of thirteen for Catalyst Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta. Growing up she worked professionally as an actor in Canadian theatre, television and film. While working professionally she graduated with an fine arts award in recognition for her impactful studies at Victoria High School of Performing Arts in 1999. She attended the National Theatre School of Canada from 2000-2003 and received her training and diploma in the 3-Year Acting Program. Jessica sought more training in her late twenties, graduating first from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art & King’s College London's MA in Text & Performance with Distinction and then immediately following it up at the University of Alberta in their MFA Directing program, a terminal degree, which she achieved with Distinction.
In her adult professional career, Jessica has continued training with the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction with the Stratford Festival of Canada, 2014 & 2016. She had an strong run as the Artistic Director of Carousel Players, a professional theatre for young audiences in St. Catharines, Ontario from 2014-2017. Before that, Jessica honed skills in leadership as an artistic associate with Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto from 2013-2017, where she was also given the role of Program Director of their Creators Unit: Animiikiig for two years before departing to be the AD of Carousel. Jessica has been passionate about supporting and learning from other Indigenous artists and communities, and garnered respected roles in leadership to that end including as a workshop leader for "The Study" hosted by the National Arts Centre, Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance and Debajehmujig Creation Centre on Manitoulin Island. She is known recently for her work directing major productions for such professional companies as the Stratford Festival of Canada, Shaw Festival of Canada, Canadian Stage, Native Earth Performing Arts and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
