Dear reader,
My name is Julia Laurenne Chambers.
I’m an actor, singer, and writer currently based in Toronto, Canada.
Growing up in a small town in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, I was surrounded by a close-knit community of people who weaved storytelling into the fabric of my being.
My grandpa Jack told stories through the birdhouses he built with pieces of broken porcelain dishes, and my grandma Georgette’s flower garden was poetry incarnate. Grandpa Bill spit out raucous one-liners like he was at a never-ending open mic night, and Grandma Shirley composed symphonies with her cooking. Grandma Louise described the eccentric characters who lived in her building over tea and cookies like she was devising the plot of a Chekhov play. Every brush stroke in my mother’s paintings told a new story in whimsical technicolor, while my father’s soapbox retellings of history books he read could take you on a journey back in time. Even my little sister, Mira, crafted fantastical three-dimensional worlds with her handmade clay creatures and Scotch-taped popsicle stick villages. My artistry was ignited by the storytellers who raised me.
My passion for the arts brought me to New York City where I earned a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. There—while studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, training in musical theatre at the New Studio on Broadway, and gaining on camera experience in the Film and TV Residency Program at Stonestreet Studios—I fell even deeper in love with storytelling. In addition to my studies in acting, my enthusiasm for telling stories led me to pursue a double major in Journalism at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
Professionally, I have lived my love for storytelling through performing in a number of fully staged theatrical productions in both Canada and New York City, acting in several independent short films, singing in concert performances, modelling, directing, and teaching. I have also had the opportunity to write my own stories in the pursuit of various creative and journalistic writing endeavours—including recently working as an editorial writer and social media assistant for NYC’s leading theatre news publication PLAYBILL®.
Whether I am up on stage, in front of the camera, or with my pen and notepad writing in the park across the street, I am happiest while telling stories. There is nothing I love more than finding beauty in the mundane, magic in the serendipitous, and joy in the mess of things.