I’d like to introduce you to one fantastically talented lady.  Seem a bit familiar to you T.V. and movie buffs out there? Reena Shah, a  full ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists union for professional actors) member, has been in the acting scene for over 5 Years. She’s appeared in several projects including Don Cherry: Wrath of Grapes, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Euphoria, Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure, a Manitoba Nurses Union Commercial, and most recently a web-based video for Manitoba Labour and Immigration.

Reena and I met a few months back when she was interested in having some professional head shots completed for her students of her acting school. I suppose one could say that our “paths continued to cross” over the next couple of month’s- literally!  I was in the Minneapolis airport returning from a Photography Trade Show in Vegas and who do I bump into?  Reena returning from an Acting weekend in L.A. – go figure.

The first thing you notice when you meet Reena is her awesome smile! You tend to quite quickly be won over by her fun nature and soon discover her  passion for acting. While she considers herself an artist first, she says teaching acting has proven to be her true passion. She started her own acting school business called, Expressions Film Studio. I asked her to share a little bit about Expressions.

“I enjoy capturing my student’s talents and I feel a tremendous amount of pride and joy as they begin to discover themselves as artists. Acting is a form of expression and a creative release. At Expressions, students learn confidence, improvisation skills for difficult situations, and how to manage their emotions. It extends far beyond just “performance” and “getting parts”. These are life skills that will empower them throughout their careers, education and relationships. What’s wonderful though, is that the learned skills are masked by the incredible amount of fun we have! We spend our time re-creating scenes from TV shows and movies, participating in improv games, creating our own characters, and producing, writing and acting in our final film project, which by the way, gets shown in a real theatre!”

You have seen some of her students in my past blogs. Reena tells me, “Some are booking parts in movies, commercials and TV shows, some auditioning frequently for casting directors in Winnipeg, and all of them busy laying the foundation of being an actor and learning the basics.” If you are in the Winnipeg area and would like to know more about the acting school or class times you can e-mail expressions.stud@gmail.com .

A couple of weeks ago it was Reena’s turn to get in front of my camera! We had an awesome time creating different looks for her work portfolio, photographing both inside the studio as well as outdoors in the Exchange District. Special thanks to Devon Edie for his assistance with the shoot. (Devon has been shadowing me for a couple of weeks and will be Graduating from High School this year and plans to pursue further studies in photography and Graphics work next year-wishing you a fun year of studies Devon!)