Jenny Shakeshaft
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Jennifer Marie Shakeshaft (born December 26, 1984) is an American actress and model living in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.


Early life

Shakeshaft was born and raised in
Monument, Colorado Monument is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule town situated at the base of the Rampart Range in El Paso County, Colorado, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Monument is one of the three communities that ...
. She attended Lewis-Palmer High School. She was a member of the school forensics team, and participated in local stage performances such as ''
Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
'' and ''
The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
''. She played
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
throughout high school. She attended the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
and
American Musical and Dramatic Academy The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) is a private conservatory for the performing arts in New York City and Los Angeles, California. The conservatory offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates ...
in New York City.


Career

Shakeshaft's early career consisted of working in many commercials, including
T.G.I. Friday's TGI Fridays Franchisor, LLC, doing business as TGI Fridays, is an American casual dining List of restaurant chains, restaurant chain focusing primarily on American cuisine. The restaurant's name stands for "Thank God It's Friday". TGI Fridays op ...
, Joe's Crab Shack,
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, and Pepsi. She became the co-host of ''
GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). The brand is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operated 3,203 stor ...
TV'', a monthly in-store video airing in GameStop locations across the United States. The exact date of her departure is unknown, but on October 2, 2009 on her Twitter account she posted, "Farewell GameStop, it's been fun!". She contributed her vocal skills to the Adult Swim version of ''
Shin Chan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshito Usui. ''Crayon Shin-chan'' made its first appearance in 1990 in a Japanese weekly magazine called ''Weekly Manga Action'', which was published by Futabasha. Due to the death of ...
'', playing Suki, and '' Ghost Hunt'', playing Keiko. She was cast as ''Crystal Martin'', a small town waitress, on the sequel projects '' Walking Tall: The Payback'' and '' Walking Tall: Lone Justice'' with Sony Pictures. Independent films dominated Shakeshaft's early screen career. She was cast as Rachel alongside
Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American character actor. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', '' The Right Stuff'', '' Remo Wil ...
and
Lea Thompson Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress, singer, dancer and director. She is best known for her roles as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990), Beverly Switzler in ''Howard t ...
in ''
Exit Speed ''Exit Speed'' is a 2008 action film by Sabbatical Pictures. The film was directed by Scott Ziehl, and stars Desmond Harrington, Julie Mond, Lea Thompson, Alice Greczyn, David Rees Snell and Fred Ward. The 90-minute action film was shown at the Ca ...
'', and as Brie in the horror film ''From the Dark''. She also appeared in ''Karma Police'', an official selection of the Dallas
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
; ''Boggy Creek''; and the
Andrew Stevens Andrew Stevens (born Herman Andrew Stephens; June 10, 1955) is an American executive, film producer, director and actor. Early life Stevens was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of actress Stella Stevens and her former husband Noble ...
-produced ''Breaking the Press''. One of Shakeshaft's favorite roles to date is the indie ''Inventing Adam'', where she flexed her comedic muscles playing Kendall alongside Josh Meyers,
Claire Coffee Claire Elizabeth Coffee (born April 14, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Adalind Schade in the NBC fantasy drama '' Grimm''. Early life Coffee grew up in Monterey, California. She attended the Santa Catalina Sch ...
,
Ike Barinholtz Ike Barinholtz (born February 18, 1977) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his starring roles in the comedy series '' MADtv'' (2002–2007), '' Eastbound & Down'' (2012), '' The Mindy Project'' (2012–2017), '' Bless the Hart ...
and Alyshia Ochse. Shakeshaft's biggest honor was being cast in
Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...
' '' The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond'' alongside
Bryce Dallas Howard Bryce Dallas Howard (born March 2, 1981) is an American actress and director. The eldest child of filmmaker Ron Howard, she studied acting at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. While portraying Characters in As You Like It#Rosali ...
and Chris Evans. As the lead female in ''
Brotherhood Brotherhood or The Brotherhood may refer to: Family, relationships, and organizations * Fraternity (philosophy) or brotherhood, an ethical relationship between people, which is based on love and solidarity * Fraternity or brotherhood, a male ...
'', Shakeshaft helped propel the film to win the
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
Film Festival Audience Award. She also appeared in the SXSW films ''
Earthling Earthling or Earthlings may refer to: Film and television * ''Earthling'' (film), a 2010 sci-fi film * ''Earthlings'' (film), a 2005 animal rights documentary * '' The Earthling'', a 1980 drama film * "Earthling" (''Fringe''), a 2009 TV episod ...
'', (playing the onscreen daughter of
William Katt William Theodore Katt (born February 16, 1951) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Ralph Hinkley/Hanley on the ABC television series '' The Greatest American Hero'' (1981–1983). Katt first became k ...
), and ''Wuss'', which won the audience award in November 2011 at the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
Film Festival in Los Angeles. Shakeshaft appeared on ''
The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...
'' as Beatrice. She also appeared in on the ABC series '' The Deep End'', starring
Billy Zane William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the Australian film ''Dead Calm (film), Dead Calm'' (1989), a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association, ...
. She appeared as the onscreen wife of
Nick Stahl Nicolas Kent Stahl (born ) is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Man Without a Face'', in which he was directed by and starred alongside Mel Gibson. Stahl later tr ...
in ''
Mirrors 2 ''Mirrors 2'' is a 2010 American supernatural horror film. It is a stand-alone sequel to the 2008 film ''Mirrors'', not featuring any of the cast and crew from the original film. Released by 20th Century Fox in direct-to-video format, the film is w ...
''.Set Visit Preview: A Reflection of 'Mirrors II'
/ref> She was in '' W.'', directed by
Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
, playing the role of Susie Evans, a friend of President George Bush (played by
Josh Brolin Josh James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film ''The Goonies'' (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starr ...
. Her onscreen husband was actor
Noah Wyle Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor, writer, producer and director. He rose to fame as John Carter in the NBC medical drama '' ER'' (1994–2009), receiving five Emmy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Award ...
. Shakeshaft was cast by director
Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (; born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. Malick began his career as part of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers and received awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and ...
in ''
The Tree of Life ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...
'' as the ex-girlfriend of
Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...
. The role required a great deal of improvisation based on direction from Malick. However, following the release of the feature, her character was not included in the final cut.


Filmography


Television


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shakeshaft, Jennifer 1984 births Actresses from Colorado Actresses from Texas American female models American film actresses American television actresses Living people People from Dallas People from Monument, Colorado 21st-century American actresses American Musical and Dramatic Academy alumni