Saskia Garel (born December 9, 1969) is a Jamaican-Canadian musician and actress.
Biography
Garel was born in
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
and immigrated to
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 ...
, Canada at an early age. With an avid interest in the arts, Saskia graduated from
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree and was awarded the Oscar Peterson Award.
Career
During her 4 years at York, she performed in the group Coconut Groove (top 40, Latin and world beat music) and played the Toronto nightclub circuit. It was with Coconut Groove that she was discovered by Richie Mayer and David Bendeth (A&R with BMG Music) and was signed to a record deal as a member of the group
Love and Sas. This would launch her music career in a huge way as she went on to garner 2 Juno Awards for best R&B recording for "Call My Name" and "Once in a Lifetime" two years in a row off the same album. Love & Sas toured Canada, the US and the UK, had 3 top ten hits on the Canadian charts and had 5 music videos running in high rotation on Much Music. While shooting her music videos, Saskia was bitten by the acting bug and was able to combine her love of singing and her new found passion for acting in the realm of musical theatre. She garnered the role of Mimi, in the Canadian Production of the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway show
''Rent''. While on tour with ''Rent'' in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Canada she landed the part of Jasmine on the TV series ''Nightman'', where she starred as a singer in 10 episodes of their final season. Saskia endured the schedule of filming during the day and performing as Mimi at night.
Personal life
Garel is married to fellow actor Steven Allerick whom she met while playing
Nala
Nala (Sanskrit: नल) is a character in the ''Vana Parva'' book of the ''Mahabharata''. He was the king of Nishadha Kingdom and the son of Veerasena. Nala was known for his skill with horses and for his culinary expertise. He married prince ...
in
''The Lion King''.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garel, Saskia
1969 births
Living people
Canadian television actresses
Canadian expatriates in the United States
Jamaican emigrants to Canada
Canadian actresses of Chinese descent
Musicians from Toronto
Actresses from Toronto
People from Kingston, Jamaica
Canadian people of Spanish descent