Jeanne Lauren Smith was born in California, raised in Washington and currently lives in New York City. She received her BA in Theatre Performance at Marymount Manhattan College in 2006. There she became extremely interested in physical theatre, and her movement training to date includes Alexander Technique, Laban, Barteneiff Fundamentals, Lucid Body, Michael Chekhov Technique, Suzuki and Slow Tempo. Since graduation, she has continued her training in acting at various studios throughout the city. New York work includes Scarab Tale (Dharma Road Productions), Hair Pieces (Regroup Theatre Company), Some Historic, Some Hysteric (New Stage Theatre Company), for which she received an Outstanding Ensemble Nomination for the Innovative Theatre Awards, The Round of Pleasure (New Stage Theatre Company) and Oh, Those Beautiful Weimar Girls! (New Stage Theatre Company), for which she received critical acclaim. She has also toured the West Coast with Let's Pretend Entertainment as the Ringmaster in the interactive children's show Let's Pretend Circus. While she was in high school, Jeanne went on a volunteer trip twice to Mexico to work with children in impovershed communities. In New York she has volunteered numerous times as a cook at Bailey House, a Hospice serving homeless men, women and children with HIV/AIDS. She has travelled abroad to Canada, Mexico, Italy, France, England and Ireland. Many times she has wanted to blend her love of travel, service and theatre but has never had the opportunity until ACTion: Ecuador!!