Jackie Strez

Jaclyn Strez was born on May 13, 1985 in Dearborn, Michigan to Joanne and Gerald Strez, an elementary school teacher and an audio technician, respectively, her mother of Polish and her father of Polish and Russian descent. Jaclyn grew up active in sports and art, alike, and took her first acting class in the 6th grade at a studio called Tah-Dah! She received a B.F.A. Degree in Theater with a specialty in Acting from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and while in college, traveled to Russia one summer to study at the famed Moscow Art Theater School (MXAT), home to renowned work of Konstantin Stanislavsky, Anton and Michael Chekhov. A half-year after graduation, Jaclyn began studying and performing and eventually teaching at PuppetART - Detroit Puppet Theater, located at the time in the heart of downtown. She continued for the next twelve years to perform with fellow PuppetART actors, a repertoire of classic folklore and fairy tales from around the world, to weekly audiences, in addition to field trips, and tour shows. For seven years, Jaclyn participated in BoxFest Detroit, a festival of women directors, winning Best Director in 2012. She then took on directing and editing the first season of a Detroit-original sitcom called "Lambert Street"- a comedic, yet heartfelt look at Detroit's future, present and past using the backdrop of an ordinary city street and its residents. Strez's concentration in film began in 2010 and includes work as a co-producer, writer, editor, costume designer, and of course actress. She has been nominated three times for Detroit's Rogue Critic Awards in Theatrical Performance and has also been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Short Film (Best Girlfriends) and Best Lead Actress in a Feature Film (Detroit Winter) for the Michigan Film Awards. She was named in 2013 by CBS Detroit as one of the Top 5 Directors on Stage in Detroit. She moved to Santa Monica, CA in 2021.