BIO: I was born in Lachine, Quebec – my dad had work there – and we lived on an island near Montreal called Ile Bizard until I was 9 years old. We then moved to a small town called Almonte – “The Friendly Town” – near Ottawa, and that’s the place I called home for my growing up years.
I blasted through school doing as little homework and as much art – theatre, visual art, and reading – as was possible in the amount of daylight hours available to a teenager. After school and summers I worked at the Tim Horton’s next town over to make money for university. I always used to smile over the old guys who, faced with a huge range of donut choice, only ever ordered the old fashioned plain. And now, what do I order when I go to a donut shop? You guessed it: old fashioned plain. Sometimes, simple is best.
I studied Drama at Queen’s University (acting, directing, playwriting), and worked as a professional theatre artist in Kingston for many years. I’m a storyteller at heart.
A few years later I relocated to the big city of Toronto – and *holy cow* was I scared. I had this idea that Toronto was A HUGE AND SCARY METROPOLIS – which it was to a ten-year old kid visiting her gramma in the back of a wood-panelled station wagon. When I arrived as an adult I very quickly made friends with a group of DIY bike-repair enthusiasts who’d set up a volunteer shop across the street from my new place, and they made all the difference: BikeSauce. Makers, artists, graduate students, smart, capable, all-ages, we were a bunch of friendly weirdos brought together by the awesome independent fun to be had blasting around the bowels of the city on bikes… and by the camaraderie and community spirit to be found helping others to learn how to build and maintain their own bicycles.
I also got to be friends with a bunch of gamers, videogame designers and game journos, and as a result of those friendships was unexpectedly immortalized as a character in the 2014 Indie Game of The Year: Always Sometimes Monsters. Still pretty dorked out about that one, actually!
I’ve rediscovered my love of the craft of acting through the medium of film, and I look forward to helping tell as many stories as the indie and studio arms of the business will include me in. I’ve become a visual artist and painter, developing skills learned long ago into my own unique (and ever evolving) style. It’s a way to reflect back and examine my own experience and worldview, to help me process, understand, and map the way I see the world, and where I stand in it. If you’re interested, you can check out my artwork via radfordmakesart.com
I’ve always been someone who likes to have lots of things on the go. Actor, artist, theatre director, writer, graphic designer, singer, and occasional art photography model. Tech whiz & computer geek. Bookaholic. Bikeaholic. Porch Gardener. Dork.
Oh, and I have a conspicuous tendency to turn to mush when interacting with animals of the four-legged and furry variety, especially rescues. In my time as a pet-mom I’ve raised three Newfoundland dogs, a Dober-thing, and five cats. Right now I’m having far too much fun teaching a little feral tuxedo kitten wild child how to play nice with her adopted feline brother and sister.
That’s it for now, but life’s always an adventure, so I’m sure there will be more stuff to add soon enough!
If you need a formal bio for a professional contract, just shoot me a line at jennifer.alyson.radford <at> gmail.com and I’ll send one off to you right quick.
🙂
Jennifer