Damonica Jenkins is a film, television, and stage actor, and also a singer. She has been an acting coach and Theatre Arts teacher for 10 years. She was born and raised in Grambling, Louisiana and currently lives and works in Houston TX.
Her alma mater is Grambling State University, where she obtained her B. A. Degree in Theatre Arts. Damonica has been acting professionally for more than 10 years now, and some of her theater credits include, The Shadow Box, The Wisdom of Eve, Color Struck, Meet Mama, and Desire Under The Elm. She originated the role of Lena Horne in the Regional premiere of Just Lena, and recently originated the role of Jojo McDuffie in the world premiere of Mary Jane Girls, a Rick James Musical. Her film credits include Black Cherie and 13 Minutes.
Damonica is also a Houston realtor, and in her spare time she enjoys reading, listening to music, krakow and dancing.
Damonica believes that theatre is the art of looking at ourselves in each and every character we play, and that there’s an element of truth regarding the human psyche that gains freedom from being onstage. She is looking forward to continued success in each and every Theatre endeavor.
For over 10 years, Jackie Soto, has been a leader in the entertainment industry. Coming from the world of casting; she has cast for the groundbreaking film Precious under the tutelage of Winsome Sinclair & Associates, and for the Oliver Stone film Pinkville.
You have seen her clients over the course of her career in highly recognizable TV shows and films such as Blue Bloods, The Black List, Blindspot, BMF, Boardwalk Empire, Bull, Crashing, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Daredevil, For Life, The Good Wife, Girls, Gossip Girl, Gotham, Jessica Jones, The Last OG, Luke Cage, Madam Secretary, Manifest, Nurse Jackie, One Life To Live, Orange is the New Black, Person of Interest, Power, Raising Kanan, Sesame Street, She’s Gotta Have It, Snowfall, Law & Order SVU, 30 Rock, and many more. The most notable was discovering Quinton Aaron, from the Oscar nominated film “The Blindside” where he starred alongside Sandra Bullock. Clients have screen tested in Los Angeles for Glee, X-Men First Class, The Gambler with Mark Wahlberg, Power Rangers, and Straight Outta Compton with F. Gary Gray. Clients have secured holding deals with ABC. Her growing business also involves a commercial print department working with top advertising clients for such companies as Verizon, Crest, Cheerios, Google, Metro PCS, Coca-Cola, Bud Light, Intel, Elizabeth Arden, and Target to name a few.
Child stars whose careers she launched include Kayla Maisonet, Uilesses Silguero, star of various Nickelodeon projects and Nicole Berger in The Longest Week as the young Olivia Wilde.
She guides and provides consultation for her clients in every area of their lives. Mrs. Jackie steers her talent on how to deliver what the director is seeking. I advise & coach on branding, technique, auditioning, and professionalism, by drawing on my experience and expertise from casting to lead them on the road to success. Mrs. Jackie is an advocate for all artists and is committed to diversity & inclusion, and moving the culture forward.
Liz Garrett’s career in the Industry started at a early age when she did her
first TV commercial at the age of 8 years old in London. She continued
working as a child model in both London and South Africa where she
graduated from The Performing Arts Academy in Durban, South Africa.
After continuing to work as an actor and model in South Africa, she started
her own successful Model and Acting School and Agency in her
hometown of Durban. After several years of running her School and
Agency where many of her talent was seen in National TV Commercials
and well as leading the way in the Fashion scene both runway and print.
Liz was then given the opportunity to come work in America.
Her career in America has spanned over 30 years, where her job titles have
included working as the Education Director for one of the leading National
Acting and Modeling Schools in the country, she owns a talent
development studio in Dallas, Tx and works with some of the leading
development/training facilities throughout America and Canada.
Over the years Liz has been involved and responsible for a lot of young talents
success in the industry.
DeShaude is a singer, actor, and dancer born in California and raised in Virginia. A former Cyber Security Engineer, DeShaude is an accomplished and well-trained actor having studied and graduated from The Sanford Meisner Center in Los Angeles and Second City.
He is a member of SAG-AFTRA and has appeared in projects and commercials for Toyota, Google, Taco Bell, Six Flags, Debbie Allen, Hulu, Lifetime, Hilton, Apple, and many more.
As a singer, DeShaude is a member of The Recording Academy and has won several awards for his original music including the OurStage Intel Superstars R&B category winner. DeShaude is currently a vocalist in the world’s most traveled cover band (Liquid Blue) performing for Fortune 500 companies, weddings, private events and more all over the world.
Monica Marie Contreras is a performer, writer, dialogue coach and director. Originally from El Paso, Texas she graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor of Arts and California Institute of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre. A proud theatre devotee and film and television fanatic, she began her career as an actor and found her home in the Los Angeles theatre community.
But soon, the siren song of Hollywood called and she began to work in the Nickelodeon and Disney multi-cam sitcom world as an actor and a writer. She jumped whole-heartedly into the environment of her second home, television, and was soon sought after as an acting coach and worked on numerous TV shows for Disney, Nickelodeon, Netflix and most recently Apple+.
Little did she know that she would love the chances that being an acting coach could afford her. Not only could she shape young actors' performances, but she was asked to join the It’s A Laugh Productions Director Internship Program in her second year as a dialogue coach on the Disney show COOP & CAMI ASK THE WORLD. This provided the opportunity not only to be on set, but to collaborate, talk and learn from various directors, showrunners and network executives who worked on the show. She also got to know countless crew members and casts
and fell in love with the mechanics and artistry of making a television show.
The dynamic between all these developing forces, along with all the hard work, compromise and dedication every production week requires, made her even more certain that she wanted to direct more episodes of multicam television shows, episodics, and eventually feature films. She continues to fulfill her appreciation and love for the process by shadowing directors and taking
continuing education workshops with the DGA.
Her recent directing credits include episodes of Disney’s COOP & CAMI ASK THE WORLD, BUNK’D, THE VILLAINS OF VALLEY VIEW and RAVEN’S HOME.
Jenna Podell hails from Dallas, Texas where she began her now 17+ year career as an actor, appearing in BARNEY and other local productions before commuting back-and-forth to LA for pilot seasons. At 12 she was featured alongside Edward Norton in the feature film, LEAVES OF GRASS. At 15, she starred alongside Nathan Lane in the USA half-hour pilot ON WE GO, which never got to air. She also completed Groundlings improv training, and the Upright Citizens Brigade's sketch and improv tracks, solidifying her love of all things comedy.
She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where she studied Film & Television Production, and worked in and on countless student productions. She also worked as a production assistant on various NYC Jax Media productions (YOUNGER, LIVING WITH YOURSELF, SEARCH PARTY, BROAD CITY).
Upon graduation, Jenna returned to LA where she's held various positions such a casting assistant for Nancy Nayor Casting (TOMIE, URBAN LEGEND) and Aufiero/Horn Casting (13 REASONS WHY, ON MY BLOCK, THE HEALING POWERS OF DUDE), an executive assistant to managers at Alchemy Entertainment and Artists First, and multiple personal assistant gigs to support herself while auditioning, performing stand-up comedy, improv, and clown (The Hollywood Improv, Flappers Comedy Club, The Comedy Store, The Elysian Theater), writing late night/sketch comedy, and filming sketches and shorts all around Los Angeles with her film school friends.
Emma Rappold grew up in McKinney, Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles, California.
Emma’s career in entertainment began at Radio Disney, where she recorded over 25 commercial voice-overs a week from ages 8 to 17. Alongside other freelance voice-over work, she trained extensively as a child actor in the Dallas metroplex and in Los Angeles. As soon as she could drive, she started coaching under Lauren Lazell at Young Actor’s House and absolutely fell in love with the art of shaping performances. For the past 10 years at Lazell’s studio, she has taught classes and guest workshops for young actors of all levels.
Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Emma received a Bachelor of Science in Radio-TelevisionFilm with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She was one of 22 students selected for the Texas Exes’ Forty Acres Scholarship Program, the premier full-ride, meritbased scholarship program at the university.
During her time at UT, Emma wanted to get as much experience in the entertainment industry as possible. She created 6 short films and 2 web-series, wrote on two seasons of a live sketch comedy show, and performed a lead role in an improv comedy feature film, THE TINY LIFE OF BUTCHER DUKE (dir. Mike Akel). In the summer after her sophomore year, Emma directed, co-wrote, and produced her debut feature film – DEAR LEO - and was awarded a grant from Richard Linklater’s Austin Film Society to help complete the film.
Alongside her studies, Emma was also able to complete 10 internships in 4 different countries at companies including WME, Annapurna Pictures, Black Bear Pictures, Roadside Attractions, Mister Smith Entertainment, and Pathé UK. Notably, Emma worked with FilmNation Entertainment at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Emma currently works with Academy Award nominated producer Aaron Ryder (ARRIVAL, MEMENTO, MUD, THE PRESTIEGE, DONNIE DARKO) at Ryder Picture Company. She worked as his assistant for over two years before getting promoted to point her own feature film and television projects within the company. Recent releases include Game Stop stock shorting saga DUMB MONEY (dir. Craig Gillespie), starring Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson, America Ferrera, and Shailene Woodley, and the dramatic coming-of-age film BRUISER (dir. Miles Warren) starring Trevante Rhodes, Shamier Anderson, and Jalyn Hall.
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