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. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 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 Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. 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 n ...

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 non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

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 film jointly written, directed and produced by Ellen Seidler and Megan Siler. Premise Lola is a photographer, who is ready to take things to the next level with her new girlfriend, Casey. Lola sets ...

'', ''

Devil Girl ''Devil Girl'' is a 2007 thriller film, directed by Howie Askins and stars Jessica Graham, Tim Abell and Vanessa Kay. Plot ''Devil Girl'' follows the story of Fay on her trip across Route 66 after the death of her father, who happened to be a mech ...

'' and '' 2 Minutes Later'' 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

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

, and

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

. In 2013, Jessica produced ''

Chasseur ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a mor ...

'', 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 the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

'', 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 (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, record ...

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 (also known as AfterEllen.com) 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 li ...

'', 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 * '' 2 Minutes Later'' (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 Bisexual actresses Living people Year of birth missing (living people) LGBT people from Pennsylvania 21st-century American women American bisexual women American bisexual actors