Stephanie St. James

Stephanie St. James is the daughter of a Russian born mother of Jewish descent & her father is of Guyanese decent and both met in Jerusalem, Israel. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, her grandmother Sofia Katz being one of two Jewish survivors of the entire Jewish community in Budslav, Poland & her grandfather David Kopelewicz a decorated Partisan Commander who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust. Stephanie was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in the Northern California Bay Area where she began her career in the theater at a very young age. She has been seen internationally in such productions as Oprah Winfrey presents "The Color Purple (musical)", for which she was nominated in 2008 for an NAACP Theater Award for Best Supporting Female * Equity for her role as "Squeak". Stephanie received the 2010 San Francisco Broadway World Fan Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical Local, for her role as Mimi in Rent at 6th Street Playhouse in Northern California. Stephanie was also honored with the 2011 FREC Award by The Film Recording Entertainment Council in South Florida. Stephanie St. James began her career after studying in New York City at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she landed her first role in the European Tour of "Fame" the musical in her last semester of school. She later went on to originate the role of Rusty in the first national tour of "Footloose" the musical. She was seen by United States President Barack Obama at the Cadillac Palace Theater in her performance of "The Color Purple (musical)" in Chicago. Her theater resume includes such shows as Gary Marshall's "Happy Days" in which she worked together with Carol King & Paul Williams, "Jesus Christ Superstar", Irish Dance Show "Celtic Fusion" which she recorded the soundtrack for in Edinburgh, Scotland, "Little Shop of Horrors", and "Grease" just to name a few. Also as a recording artist her cover tune of ABBA's "Money, Money, Money" and John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" are popular singles worldwide from her debut independent releases "The St. James Experience" and "What did I do?" under the aka/alias "St. James". Stephanie has been seen as a panelist speaker for Facebook and has appeared on television networks NBC, CW, PBS and more! In 2014 Stephanie was named by the North Bay Business Journal as one of the Top 40 under 40 in Business in Northern California. Stephanie married the son of Argentine Jewish/Yiddish Theater Actor Jackie Jacob known for his show "L'Chaim to Life" on Broadway's Town Hall. The two live in the Pacific Northwest with their two dogs.