Jacqueline Van Biene

Jacqueline is a Southern Californian native, and graduated with a B.A. in drama from U.C. Irvine. She was selected as one of two undergraduate Honors In Acting students to perform in the New York/ Los Angeles UCI Graduate Showcase with fellow graduate programs, NYU and Yale. Upon graduating she was cast in two consecutive seasons at Shakespeare Santa Cruz playing such roles as Ophelia in "Hamlet", Sibyl in "Private Lives," Mistress Ford in "Merry Wives of Windsor," and Virgilia in "Coriolanus." Jacqueline was cast as the lead in the World Premiere of Brian Dykstra's "Hiding Behind Comets" at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where she played the darkly disturbed character of Honey. In New York she has studied acting with Terry Schreiber himself at the T. Schreiber Studio, which has helped her expand her acting horizons and become more confident in understanding her range as an actor. She was thrilled to play the lead, Alice Sycamore, in their production of "You Can't Take It With You" last season. Shortly after that she was cast as Elizabeth in "Six Degrees of Separation" at the Gallery Players. Stemming from her performances in those two productions she was named one of New York's Twelve Freshest Faces of 2007. In her hometown of Los Angeles she has worked in the film and commercial industry. Most notably, she was cast as the lead in a political spoof ad written and directed by David Zucker ("Airplane," the "Naked Gun" series, and the "Scary Movie" series). Jacqueline is still constantly amazed by how often she is told that she resembles a young Susan Sarandon, and is looking forward to one day putting this "natural talent" to good use!