Shana Elizabeth Dowdeswell (1 April 1989 – 12 December 2012), was a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moza ...

descent.

Personal life

Dowdeswell was born on 1 April 1989 in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, Zimbabwe. Her father

Roger Dowdeswell Roger Dowdeswell (born 16 February 1944) is a former professional tennis player from Zimbabwe. He is the elder brother of Colin Dowdeswell. Playing career Dowdeswell made the second round of all four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tournaments du ...

is a former professional tennis player. Her mother Laurie Smith is a film producer who produced the film ''The New Twenty''. Shana moved to New York City, United States and attended City and Country School, PS 3, and finally PPAS High School. She started acting career at age eight, and later played

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

in a production at the

Paper Mill Playhouse Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey on the Rahway River. Due to its relatively close location to Manhattan, it draws from the pool of actors (and audience members) who live in ...

. She had a longtime relationship with her boyfriend Cameron Moneo. She had one younger brother, Jesse. Shana's uncle

Colin Dowdeswell Colin Dowdeswell (born 12 May 1955) is a former professional tennis player who represented, at different times, Rhodesia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and who achieved rank as UK No. 1. During his time on the world tour, he won one singl ...

is also a former professional tennis player.

Death

On 7 December 2012, Shana went to a New York City Greenwich Village bar, called The Basement and drank several shots of whiskey. While returning, she stumbled and passed out on the doorstep. A dog walker discovered her unconscious body and rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center. After the test, it was found she had a

blood alcohol content Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For exampl ...

of 0.39 at the time, five times the state's legal limit for driving. She died on 12 December 2012.

Career

In 2002, Shana appeared in the Frank Higgins' play ''Miracles'' and played the role of 'Eve', an autistic girl. In 2003 she played the role as young version of 'Jenna' in the film ''13 Going on 30''. However, her acting was cut from the film after test audiences reacted negatively to the original. She later played four different characters in all three primary shows of the Law & Order franchise. Then she acted in the popular television serials such as ''Mercy'', ''Family of the Year'', and ''Body of Proof''. Meanwhile, Shana also appeared in the film ''The Stream'', ''The Winning Season'', ''Asylum Seekers'', and ''Choose'' before her death. After her death in 2012, five films were released: ''The Big Wedding'' (2013), a short film ''Going South'' (2013), ''An Ornament of Faith'' (2013), short film ''Wish You Were Here'' (2013), and ''Mistress America'' (2015).

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowdeswell, Shana Living people 21st-century Zimbabwean actresses Zimbabwean film actresses South African actresses 1989 births Zimbabwean emigrants to the United States