Artist Bio

(Bio as of January 2011)

Penny Johnson Jerald most recently appeared at the Goodman in The Trinity River Plays during the 2010/2011 Season. Ms. Jerald has been the director of more than 45 plays, including The Tinker; A Very L.A. L.A. Christmas Carol; Chains of Freedom; Just in Time; The Descent From the Cross: A Living Portrait; A Christmas Carol; Heaven’s Gates/Hell’s Flames; Zodiocracy; Loving the Beloved; The Christmas Club; Gold, Frankincense, Christmas Tree Ornaments, and Myrrh; A Question of Innocence/The People Versus Christ; The Windows of Christmas; A Stranger in Bethlehem; The Vagina Monologues and Moist! Theater performance credits include her one-woman show Not My Child; Our Country’s Good; The Debutante Ball; The Night of the Assassin; The Two Sisters; The Vault and The Derelict. Film credits include What’s Love Got to Do with It, Absolute Power, Krippendorf’s Tribe, Swing Shift, Goin’ to Chicago and Fear of a Black Hat. On television, she has appeared as a series regular and in recurring roles on The Larry Sanders Show, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, ER, Eve, 24, The 4400, October Road and House of Payne, with a plethora of additional television, movie and episodic appearances. Ms. Jerald is a writer and the artistic director of her theater group, Outreach Christian Theatre Company, a graduate of The Juilliard School and a CableACE Award, NAACP Image Award and Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated actress.

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