Jessica wears many hats but also has tunnel vision focus on everything she works on. She's an actress, comedian, screenwriter, director and producer. Jessica has always been true to her heart as well as to her sense of humor. She loves creative, honest expressions of all kinds and genres, but has always had a special place in her heart for comedy. As a comic she’s performed at a variety of New York’s best venues, including The Stand, New York Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club, The Village Lantern and many glamorous bar basements. She went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied acting and directing. After graduating she collaborated with several up and coming theater companies, including directing three plays in the NY Fringe Festival. She later went to Columbia University's Graduate Film Program, where she wrote, directed, and produced a strong body of film and TV projects. Around that time she developed a strong passion for improv and sketch comedy, and trained and performed at a variety of theaters, including Upright Citizens Brigade and the PIT. Many of her films, pilots, and web series have been honored in a variety of festivals and script contests including the
PAGE Screenwriting contest,
TV Guide Writing Contest,
Hollyshorts Film Festival,
The Harlem Film Festival,
LA Comedy Shorts Festival,
World Of Comedy Film Festival, etc.
In recent years she's worked as a writer, director and producer in both narrative (film, television, web series, and music videos) and non-narrative projects (promos, educational and corporate videos). One of the web series she was a staff writer for was recently optioned by a TV network.
She also co-hosts and co-produces the podcast The Test. Inspired by The Bechdel Test, The Test is a podcast that is essentially a Bechdel Test in itself - Two women in the entertainment industry interviewing other women who work in a variety of roles in the film and TV industries. The Test is sponsored by the film organization Cinefemme and has interviewed an amazing, diverse group of women writers, directors, producers, etc. and it can be found on iTunes.
Some other career highlights include: Semifinals in the Sundance Writers Lab, a Student Academy nomination, an Audience Choice Award in the Columbia Film Festival, and an award from the New York TV Festival (NYTVF).
