Graduate Acting
Biography
Joanna, a student of Michael Chekhov, is an actor, teacher and former casting director. She teaches regular workshops at the Actor's Center, the American Conservatory Theatre, the Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. She is the recipient of two Casting Society of America Artios Awards for casting Bertolucci's The Last Emperor and Sondheim's Into the Woods. As Harold Prince's casting director, she cast the original Broadway productions of Sondheim's Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, and Merrily We Roll Along, as well as Evita and On the Twentieth Century. Other film casting includes three Merchant/Ivory films. As an actor, she made her Broadway debut opposite Laurence Olivier in Becket, created the role of Tzeitel iin Fiddler on the Roof; films include City of Angels, Class Action, Mystic Pizza, Fame, The Killing Fields, The Ten Commandments. She appeared in HBO's Witness Protection, CBS' Black and Blue, Law & Order, and has a recurring part in Law and Order, Special Victims Unit. She is a co-founder of the Non-Traditional Casting Project, dedicated to increasing employment opportunities for artists of color and disability. She was a member of the Tony Awards nominating committee. Her book, Auditioning: An Actor Friendly Guide was published by Vintage in May, 2001
