hire
Lesley has been a professional actor, working in theatres across Canada, in the UK and Europe for the past 40 years. In addition to on-stage work, she’s accrued over 60 professional film and television credits. While also working as a director, dramaturg, teacher, creative enabler and playwright, Lesley maintains a full time acting career in film, tv, stage and voice work. Spotlight, IMDB. Work inquires can be directed to her agent Ryan Iosco-Holmes at the Foundry
voice work
Recent projects include Gaia in the top selling Sony Playstation 4 game Horizon: Forbidden West + Zero Dawn. Voice work is one of Lesley's favourite mediums. She is a sought after as a Documentary Narrator and also ‘voices’ commercials, cartoons, dvds, phone systems and websites. Her well honed skills as an actor enable her to enliven any copy efficiently and easily. Please click here to hear her voice reels.
Voice agent: The Joneses
laura@meetthejoneses.co.uk
lizzie@@meetthejoneses.co.uk
joel@meetthejoneses.co.uk
teaching
Lesley teaches and directs at Rada (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) in London UK. As a teacher, Lesley holds her acting students to the same standards she strives for in her own performance work. Values she works to instill include discipline, intellectual rigour, embodied facility, creative freedom and spontaneity within an intricate structure. At Rada, Lesley has developed the Devising stream for the BA Acting Course. In Spring 2021 she took the practice to a new level, directing the 3rd Yr Graduates in an original devised show. Lesley also teaches Meditation and Actor Resilience at Rada; a mindfulness/meditation course of study geared toward developing a psychologically healthy actor's practice. Lesley is also part of the group of Tutors pioneering the Personal Tutor program and is on the Decolonisation Team, working to make Rada a contemporary training program that is inclusive and aware with anti-racism at its foundation.
Previously Lesley taught at Identity (Mind/Body, Improv and Text Analysis.), Mountview (Sight/Cold Reading) and Northampton University (Screen Acting). She draws on her experiential study of a variety of methodologies: Laban, Alexander, Feldenkrais, Grotowski, Stanislavski's 'Sytem', Linklater, Itcush Method, Judith Coltai's Authentic Movement, Linda Putnam, Ruth Zaporah's Action Theatre, clown, Advait Vedant, Padma Yoga (Certified Beginning Meditation teacher). She has also created storytelling workshops for a variety of non-performers: Youth at Risk, people with 'homelessness' and drug issues, refugees, victims of torture, Indigenous/1st Nations. Lesley is available to facilitate workshops and laboratories for performers and non-performers. She devises each program specifically for the group she's invited to work with.
As a dramaturge, Lesley draws on almost 40 years of performance experience in a multitude of mediums. She views her dramaturgical work as “creative midwifery”. As well as traditional text based dramaturgy for both stage and screen, Lesley is fully equipped to work with artists from alternate artistic backgrounds, with all levels of experience and can dramaturg any sort of social/cultural events. Her goal is to enable creators to bring to potent fruition their desired endeavour, sometimes surpassing what even they expected of themselves. Her main focus is devised performance: experimental theatre and/or live art. Most recently she worked with Catherine Hoffman on her new piece Glory Days at Camden People's Theatre and with Access All Areas on Cian Binchey's new work The Misfit Analysis, which will open July 2015 at Rich Mix, continuing on to The Lyric Hammersmith, London Liberty Festival and finally the Edinburgh Fringe and EveryDay Day Lee a performance duo who debuted their work at Battersea Arts Centre (http://accessallareastheatre.org/).
Dear to her heart is the work Lesley does with Access All Areas Theatre. Since 12015, Lesley has been a part of Access, developing the practice of Creative Enabler; an individual who works to enable professional performers with Learning Disabilities to bring their performance creations to life. She has worked with Cian Binchy on ITV's The Level and Grace; Dayo Koleosho on the National Theatre's Faith Hope and Charity and Imogen Roberts in MADHOUSE: re-exit along with the rest of the ensemble on Imposter 21 at the Royal Court. As Creative Enabler, Lesley's often coaches for auditions, directs on set, creates live art performances, sound and video and liaises with film production and the performers family, advocating for what the performer needs to in order to do their professional best
Lesley's initial interest in Live Art was sparked in 2005 when she was invited to the artist residency CESTA, in Tabor Czech Republic. There she began furthered her practice alongside 30 other artists from 25 different countries. In 2012 she moved to London UK - the centre of the burgeoning scene - to do an MA in Performance Making at Goldsmiths College. She grew to know (and love) the Live Art Community in London, made solo work and performed as crisis + denial with Catherine Hoffmann, showing at both Buzzcut and SPILL Festival . Her practice takes many forms, each piece a response to something she’s encountered and is moved to process artistically. Adding to her her considerable store of theatre skills and in order to support her visions, Lesley taught herself video, sound editing and photoshop. She creates social interventions, performance video and site-responsive performance installations. Please see works for more.
photography
Lesley's images often capture the extraordinary amid the ordinary. She's available for on set shooting, capturing live performance, or creating promotional images. She uses a Panasonic GH-2 and a Sony RX 100 Mark II. Recent images from her trip in the Himalayas can be seen here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk3DmJDt and https://flic.kr/s/aHsk2Z6z8V
soundscape
Lesley has been creating soundscape since she received her first tape recorder as a child. During her time as national radio host on the music interview show "The Beat" on CBC Radio 1 & 2, Lesley regularly cut interviews and packaged music documentaries. At that point in time all her editing was done on reel-to-reel tape: experience which makes digital editing a breeze. With a classically trained musical ear, an understanding of the intricacies of dialogue and storytelling honed in the theatre and a rigorous attention to detail, Lesley's adept at creating soundscape that's supportive, atmospheric, inobtrusive and richly layered
video
Lesley has gradually been gaining experience in short video works. As well as producing promo and archival video for theatrical companies and independent artists, she combines creates video/performance, and video/installation. She has a basic understanding of Final Cut Pro and is excellent at cutting to music.
contact
directly: MyGeneralLifeIs@gmail.com
acting agent: Ryan@theFoundrymgmt.com
voice agent: Laura@meetthejones.co.uk