Sarah-Jane Redmond

Biography

Sarah-Jane Redmond is arguably one of Canada’s most recognizable, respected, and beloved leading ladies. Having been in the business for over 25 years, and amassing over 100 film and television credits, Sarah-Jane’s experience is unparalleled. She has worked alongside professionals including Katie Holmes, Blake Lively, Reneé Zellwegger, and Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny on the famed “X-Files” (to name a few).

Her most recent credits include a series regular on the Freeform series “Siren”, recurring roles on “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”, and “The 100”, and in 2021 shot 10 episodes on the award-winning Canadian series “Tribal”. Her penchant for character driven roles, and ability to thrive in both dramatic and comedic environments, makes her one of the most versatile actresses out there.

 

Biography of Sarah-Jane Redmond

Sarah-Jane Redmond is an accomplished actress, well versed in the many aspects of her chosen profession which she considers to be her craft. Sarah-Jane is also a sought after private acting coach. Indeed throughout Sarah-Jane’s career the actress has gathered an extensive résumé of skills and experience including theatre, dance, film and television work.

Earlier Years

Born in Cyprus, August 22nd 1970, Sarah-Jane Redmond and her family were fortunate to visit several countries due to her father’s service within the British Royal Air Force. Sarah-Jane spent part of her early life in England’s beautiful Lake District region of Cumbria, before later settling at the age of ten years in Canada. Sarah-Jane recalls even from an earlier age her strong desire to one day become an actress, although she recollects no specific decision.

A young and inspired Sarah-Jane attended Dancemakers Studio in Toronto, Canada for six years, under the professional tutelage of Brian Foley, before moving to London after her graduation. Within her first year in the UK, Sarah-Jane was accepted into theatre school but instead chose to return to Canada to study at the famous William Davis Centre in Vancouver (William Davis being instantly recognisable to many for his famous portrayal of ‘The Cigarette Smoking Man’ in The X-Files).

Sarah-Jane continues to reside in Canada, which has been the home of many of her projects. In a interview with me, Sarah-Jane shared her thoughts on living in Vancouver:

“I love living here in Canada,” Sarah-Jane admitted. “it has been great to me both professionally and personally. Although I was not born here I consider it my home, but I could for sure see myself spending a lot of time down in Belize.” [1]

Shortly after graduation Sarah-Jane launched her own Theatre company. It was during one of her productions that a visiting Agent was impressed with her talent, assisting her to commence a varied and thorough career which has seen her work with many successful ‘stars’, hugely talented production crews, as well as many of the world’s most well known studios and distributors including Warner Bros, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox and Columbia among many others.

As Millennium’s Lucy Butler

Sarah-Jane has achieved a varied mixture of mainstream and cult success becoming a much loved and respected actress, in particular with fans of Chris Carter’s Millennium TV series. Whilst it is fair to say that Chris Carter and his production company Ten Thirteen Productions are best know for the commercial success of The X-Files TV and film series (in which Redmond has appeared thrice), it is the critically acclaimed and much less well known Millennium which has seen Sarah-Jane attract the most attention and following.

In fact, Sarah-Jane credits Millennium as the springboard for her television career and in particular for persuading her to continue her chosen field of acting at a time when she considered otherwise:

“Millennium… was the experience that inspired me to continue in the field of acting, and taught me so many wonderful tools that continue to help me strive for the best.” Sarah-Jane recalls “I wanted so much to work on Millennium, as I found Chris Carter a prolific and captivating writer, and was pleased to hear I had an audition for him in an episode that David Nutter was to direct. I knew at the time that I felt very strong about the audition, and was surprised to say the least when the casting director called me at home. They did not want to give me the part I had auditioned for because they had a new recurring character that they would like me to play. This was the part of Lucy Butler.” [2]

Sarah-Jane, who will forever be cherished by dedicated fans of Millennium for her portrayal of Lucy Butler, is thankful that the role led her to work with the multi-talented Lance Henriksen, who played Millennium’s central character Frank Black. The two actors share a unique understanding of their work which saw them team up once again for the 2003 movie The Invitation.

Reminiscing about her time spent with Lance, Sarah-Jane recalls:

“Lance Henriksen I simply cannot say enough about. I have worked with many ‘stars’ and Lance has been by far, the greatest example of grace, talent, joy, commitment and generosity I have ever come across. At the time I was considering not continuing my career, as I found television disheartening by the people I had been working with. It was nothing like the rush I had felt in theatre school, the rush of communicating with another actor, creating intensity and chemistry. When I worked with Lance, it was like lightning. He is so alive, so willing to play, and be challenged.” [2]

I once asked Sarah-Jane if she would like to one day revive the role of Lucy and once more become the nemesis of Millennium’s protagonist Frank Black. She responded:

“I would of course love to work with Lance again. I learned so much from him, and he was a great mentor to me. It would be fantastic to get inside Lucy Butler once again. I have many thoughts on where she could go, but, if in the hands of Chris Carter I think I would prefer to see what comes from his mind.” [2]

Other roles

Take a short look at the television credits of Sarah-Jane and you’ll immediately notice the lady has a penchant for science-fiction thrillers and dramas. In addition to appearances on The X-Files (both the TV series and a film sequel), her list includes a mix of appearances and recurring roles on The Dead Zone, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The Outer Limits, international hit series’ Fringe and Smallville, Andromeda, Strange World, Harsh Realm and not forgetting James Cameron’s Dark Angel and Steven Spielberg’s Taken. Sarah-Jane appeared in the Hellraiser horror franchise sequel Hellseeker, Bloodrayne 2, The Invitation, Disturbing Behaviour, Tripple Dog, 30 Days Of Night.

In later years, Sarah-Jane has worked on several more sci-fi dramas and thrillers including Siren, Supernatural, The 100, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Arrow, iZombie, V and a lead role in The Entrance.

Sarah-Jane’s television and movie credits include many other popular genres besides science fiction, adding examples of family/children, thrillers Possessing Piper Rose and Case 39, horror, comedy and dramatisation to her name.

Sarah-Jane had a recurring lead role in the award winning, long running crime detective series Da Vinci’s Inquest which garnered seven seasons before making way for spin off series, Da Vinci: City Hall.

Sarah-Jane loves comedy, she completed two seasons in the lead role of Alienated, a quirky sci-fi comedy featuring some strong storylines and adult themes. Sarah-Jane also thoroughly enjoyed working on Tammy Tammy in the lead role of Tammy, a modern light-comedy update on Shakespeare’s classic The Taming of The Shrew.

Sarah-Jane has also worked on a number of family, teen and children’s projects including A Wrinkle In Time, Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, RL Stine’s The Haunting Hour, as well as several projects for the Hallmark and Lifetime channels, including The Irresistible Blueberry Farm, Finding A Family, Mr Miracle, Buried Secrets, Cedar Cove, Garage Sale Mysteries and My Best Friend’s Bouquet, not to mention roles on internationally successful series The Good Doctor, The Bletchley Circle, The L Word etc.

Behind The Scenes

Off screen, Sarah-Jane maintains an active and adrenaline inducing fitness and sports orientated regime which includes running, boxing, sky diving, ocean diving and she undertakes regular Hap-Ki Do martial arts training. In August 2007, Sarah-Jane despite the additional challenges of being 8 months pregnant at the time, walked with her sister through the suburbs of Vancouver (over 60 kilometres during the course of one weekend), together with thousands of other men and women, themselves raising $4000 for the BC Cancer Foundation.

In 2006, for her role in The Entrance, Sarah-Jane was thrilled to have been nominated as Best Actress at the Tribeca New York horror film festival and later during 2007, Sarah-Jane was delighted to have received a Leo Award nomination for ‘Best Lead Performance by a female in a Feature Length Drama’. The Leo Awards are an annual set of awards, given each May, which honor the best in British Columbian television and film production.

Sarah-Jane got married in 2007 and later that year on October 5th, Sarah-Jane welcomed the safe arrival of her newborn son, Lucas Noon-Redmond, thereby securing her finest role yet as a proud mother.

More Recently…

Sarah-Jane continues to work passionately within the film and television industry, both in front and behind the camera. In recent years she has expanded her résumé as a professional acting coach. She later founded and launched SJR Studios in Vancouver, offering a range of actor coaching and supportive services for new as well as established actors of almost all ages. Sarah-Jane is credited with having provided actor coaching on the 2017 short film, Cyrus and The Wallet.

During the global health pandemic of 2020/22, Sarah-Jane has remained in high demand and sought new solutions to offset the challenges of socially distanced working during the COVID-19 era, offering online virtual coaching services.

When considering Sarah-Jane Redmond, there is no doubt as to the talent and experience of this actor. It’s also impossible to forget the professional pride that Sarah-Jane injects into her work. Sarah-Jane is certainly a charming and intelligent actress, one who will continue to rise and enjoy new challenges.

 

Graham P. Smith
SarahJaneRedmond.com

(Updated 2021)

 

References

  1. ^ From currently unpublished content.
  2. ^ Quotes from an interview with Scott Pugliese for This Is Who We Are (TIWWA).

By Graham S.

Site Manager

Graham is an independent freelance web designer and developer from the UK. He created and manages Sarah-Jane's official website. Graham is also the owner of Millennium - This Is Who We Are, a comprehensive website and forum-based community dedicated to Millennium which featured Sarah-Jane as Lucy Butler.