Jessica Graham is an American actress, producer and meditation teacher. She has acted in films such as ''Murder Made Easy'', and ''2 Minutes Later'' for which she won Best Actress Award at the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Early life

Graham was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. She is the oldest of three sisters and has a half-brother and two step brothers. Her mother raises and trains

Alpacas The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. Traditionally, alpacas were kept in herds that grazed on the level heights of the Andes of Southern Peru, Western Bolivia, Ecuador, and Northern Chile. More recently ...

and also works as a gardener for an all-women's gardening company. Her stepfather is a carpenter and her father, who died, worked in an oil refinery. Graham spent part of her childhood living in a 400-year-old house in Ridley State Park without television. Graham is self-taught except for attending The School in Rose Valley from 4th through 6th grade. It was there that Graham performed in her first real play, ''Antigone'', playing the title role.

Career

Before moving to

Los Angeles 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, ...

from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, she was the Producing Artistic Director or Theater Catalyst. She also co-founded both Theater Catalyst's Eternal Spiral Project, and Stonegraham Productions, (producers of *girl*, a Philadelphia

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

party). With the Eternal Spiral Project, she produced and acted in numerous plays including a collection of monologues by

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

called, "I Stand Before You Naked", and ''Scab'', by

Sheila Callaghan Sheila Callaghan (born 1973) is a playwright and screenwriter who emerged from the RAT ( Regional Alternative Theatre) movement of the 1990s. She has been profiled by ''American Theater Magazine'', "The Brooklyn Rail", ''Theatermania'', and ''Th ...

. Since moving to Los Angeles, she has appeared in a number of films including ''

And Then Came Lola ''And Then Came Lola'' is a 2009 comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television ser ...

'', '' Devil Girl'' and ''

2 Minutes Later ''2 Minutes Later'' is a 2007 American mystery thriller film directed by Robert Gaston, starring Michael Molina, Jessica Graham, Peter Stickles and Matt Cannon. Cast * Michael Molina as Michael/Kyle Damar * Jessica Graham as Abigail Marks * P ...

'' which won her the Best Actress Award at the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. She has also appeared on the stage and her commercial credits include

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Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., or simply Southwest, is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States that formerly operated on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in the Love Field, Dallas, Love Field neighborhood ...

, and

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

. In 2013, Jessica produced ''

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'', written and directed by her frequent collaborator Christopher Soren Kelly, and starring Kelly and Joshua Bitton, which won Best Short at Fly Away Film Festival and Timecode:NOLA. In 2015, she produced and starred opposite Christopher Soren Kelly in the short film ''

Monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

'', for which Kelly also directed. She will again be seen opposite Kelly in two new features, The Tangle'' and ''Murder Made Easy''. She is a member of

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Personal life

Graham is a meditation teacher and also writes about meditation. She is a contributing editor of the meditation blog, Deconstructing Yourself. In an interview for the website ''

AfterEllen.com ''AfterEllen'' is an American culture website founded in 2002, with a focus on entertainment, interviews, reviews, and news of interest to the lesbian and bisexual women's community. The site covers pop culture and lifestyle issues from a feminis ...

'', Graham described herself as an "out bisexual woman" and joked she was "70/30 women to men". She also said, "the real, honest truth is I have been madly in love with three women in my life, and had long-term relationships with them. Madly in love. Maybe a little too madly. And lived with women. But I've done the same thing with men. I've been in long-term relationships with men, and been madly in love with them, too." as well as "I'm interested when an actress comes out. I'm interested when somebody makes a comment about how they fantasize about other women...It's such a double-sided thing."

Filmography

* ''My Father's Gun'' (2002) (TV) as Patrice * ''Inclinations'' (2005) as The Muse * ''Thirsty'' (2005) as Hannah (also writer and producer credits) * ''The Coat Room'' (2005) as Kristin * ''Rent Control'' (2006) as Lucy * ''

'' (2007) as Abigail Marks * ''Starting from Scratch'' (2007) as Kissing Girl * ''Heart of the Jade Empress'' (2007) as Scarlet Guard 1 * ''Devil Girl'' (2007) as Fay * ''Dire Straights'' (2007) as Bride * ''Tremble & Spark'' (2007) as Veronica Anderson * ''

'' (2009) as Jen * ''A Night at the Office'' (2012) as Lois * ''She4Me'' (2014) as Actress * ''Monkeys'' (2014) as Lilla * ''Crazed'' (2015) as Jackie * ''Doin' It '' (2017) as Sandra * ''BnB HELL'' (2017) as Jackie * ''Murder Made Easy'' (2017) as Joan * ''The Tangle'' (2019) as Laurel

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Jessica American film actresses Living people Year of birth missing (living people) LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania 21st-century American women American bisexual actresses