Allison Brennan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Theatre from the University of Ottawa. During her time at the university, she was a member of the world's oldest diner theatre troupe, Eddy May, and performed in the National Arts Centre's production of The Odyssey, directed by Kim Selody. It was during this production that she met Michael Dobbin, who encouraged her to audition for the American Conservatory Theatre's three-year Master of Fine Arts program specializing in classical acting training.
In 2006, she moved to San Francisco and joined the MFA class of 2009 at ACT, where she spent three years immersed in a seventeen-person ensemble. This experience exposed her to the strengths and weaknesses, creative processes, and backgrounds of a diverse group of actors from all over the United States. She also spent a summer as a company member at California Shakespeare Theatre, where she appeared in Shakespeare's Pericles, directed by Joel Sass, and Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, directed by Jonathon Moscone.
Since returning to Toronto, Canada in 2010, she has enjoyed a career in film, television, and theatre. She has appeared in several national commercials and was featured on the cover of Canadian Running Magazine and Canadian Living Magazine. Her film and television credits include appearances on Warehouse 13, Breakout Kings, and movies of the week Certain Prey and Girl's Best Friend.
She has also appeared in the feature films De-bug and Tell the World, both in post-production, and played Cindy in Dr. Cabbie, released in June 2014. In addition, she has participated in a number of Canadian Film Centre student productions, including the film Sans Desserts, where she met and worked with fellow actress Nicki Gallo.
The two went on to develop, write, produce, and perform in the fringe festival hit Camp Shecky: A Play on a School Bus in 2011. She recently returned to the stage in the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's season opener, Venus In Fur, directed by Christopher Brauer. Allison was also honored to work closely with Sir Ben Kingsley, playing his assistant in the feature film LIFE, set to be released in 2015.
She is also a writer and editor, having written and edited the Ontario Fire Fighters Safety Magazine and the Children's Drug and Safety Awareness Magazine from 2012 to 2014. During this time, she became increasingly aware of the social injustice regarding poverty in North America and the statistics around fire deaths in Ontario. She continues to write, research, and fund-raise to bring awareness to the systemic problem and considers empowering herself and following her dreams as being part of a solution.
As the eldest of three, she grew up playing guitar and writing folk songs in true Ottawa Valley fashion. She is also a first-time cat mom to a little ginger cat named Strawberry, who will be featured in her first short film, An Unromantic Film about Sex and Love, set to be released soon.
