Jackie English is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television host, actress, dancer, choreographer, director, filmmaker and performer.

Early life

English was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. English later moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

where she graduated from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in the top 5% in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

. After university she worked for a year at

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Capgemini SE is a multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company, headquartered in Paris, France. History Capgemini was founded by Serge Kampf in 1967 as an enterprise management and data processing company. The compa ...

in Montreal as a consultant before becoming a full time performing artist

Career

After leaving the corporate world, English became a host of ''

TVOKids TVOkids (short for TVOntariokids and stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVOntario (TVO) in Canada. It was launched on April 1, 1994 and runs from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. The brand also operate ...

'', TVOntario's after school block of children's programs, alongside Milton Barns, Mark Sykes and Nicole Stamp, and later Ryan Fields. English appeared in live interstitial breaks between shows such as '' Art Attack'', '' Arthur'', '' Dino Dan'' and '' The Magic School Bus''. During these segments she would perform original characters including Jigsaw Jill and interview noteworthy Canadians including Robert Munsch and Perdita Felician. English also appeared in number of original TVO Kids series ''BOD TV'', as Artbot in ''Artbot'', Nifty Girl in ''Super Citizens'', the mayor in ''The Reading Rangers'', and was the in-house

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

for music videos. Later English became the on-location host to in-studio hosts Kara Harun and

Dalmar Abuzeid Dalmar Abuzeid (born October 23, 1990) is a Canadian actor. He initially became known for portraying Danny Van Zandt in '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' from 2004 until 2010. Since ''Degrassi'', he has appeared in a variety of television series ...

, where she reported on kids news including interviewing Chris Bosh, visiting

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

and the

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...

. Best known was her 40 episodes of the series ''Jackie's School of Dance'' which was nominated for two A.C.T. Awards. In 2011, English wrote and directed her first film, a one-minute short film called ''NIMBY'' which won first prize at the Toronto Urban Film Festival where judge

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

called it "extraordinary." She then started a film collective called ''The Splinter Unit'' which produced 8 films, including ''Out'' directed by

Jeremy Lalonde Jeremy LaLonde (born January 7, 1981) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is known for his work in Canadian film and television. Early life LaLonde grew up in Cayuga, Ontario. After graduating from Niagara College, LaLonde moved to Toronto to begin ...

, which premiered at

TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...

. In 2017 English's first feature film ''Becoming Burlesque'', starring

Shiva Negar Shiva Negar (born May 29, 1983) is an Iranian-Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of ...

with the support of Telefilm, premiered at Whistler Film Festival. The film was the opening film at the

Canadian Film Festival The Canadian Film Festival, formerly known as the Canadian Filmmakers Festival, is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario. Showcasing a program of Canadian independent films, it is held in March of each year and usually runs for five days. ...

and won Best Film at the Tryon Film Festival in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

before its Canadian and American Theatrical release, followed by digital distribution in North America. English was declared a Canadian Director To Watch by Broadway World. As an actress, English has appeared in TV series CBC's '' Frankie Drake Mysteries'', new

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Series '' Dare Me'', '' Rookie Blue'', and ''Beauty and the Beast''. As a choreographer, English created 60 episodes of

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is owned by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by the ...

series ''Minivers'', dances for Second City MainStage, ''

I, Martin Short, Goes Home ''I, Martin Short, Goes Home'' is a Canadian television comedy special, written by and starring comedian Martin Short, which aired on CBC Television in 2012.Actresses from Toronto Canadian female dancers Canadian choreographers Film directors from Toronto Living people McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian women choreographers Canadian women film directors