Biography
Jolie Vanier was born in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1998. Growing up in a family intensely involved with the fine arts, the young girl garnered leading roles in local children's theatre groups such as Childsplay and Desert Stages at an early age. Jolie made her leading role debut as Helvetica in the 2009 feature film Shorts (Warner Bros.) directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann and James Spader.
The young actress recently filmed a dark and compelling role for the second season finale of the popular television series, From Dusk Till Dawn directed by Robert Rodriguez for El Rey. She also starred in the USC Short film Promposal, directed by Sea Louise Bensimon, about a boy who is scrambling last minute to ask his girlfriend to prom. Another USC film called Remorse starred Jolie as the young girl who is remembering her mother's death a few years later. Her third USC film, The Auditions, stars a young girl who is mugged on the way to her audition and has to assume various roles in order to get money to make it to the call.
In 2014, she completed a role in the dark comedy pilot Foxxx David. In this pilot, she plays Greta, the bipolar borderline schizophrenic foreign exchange student. In 2013, Jolie had the lead role in a short film entitled Hello, My Name is Abigail. Directed by Tim Kressin, the film explores the trials and tribulations of adoption in modern day society. The previous year, the young actress completed another short film Sister, Sister. Directed by Michael Fernandez, this film concerns the complications of friendships.
Jolie also starred in an award-winning short film, Ghild, released in 2011. A dark fairy tale about a giant child who can't stop growing, the film was directed by David Yarovesky and based on a screenplay created by Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville). Ghild attracted numerous critical compliments when it premiered at the NY International Children's Film Festival and subsequently won the Outstanding Award in Short Film-making Award at the Newport Film Festival.
In the spring of 2013, Jolie won a YAA award -- Best Young Actress in a Short Film - for her performance in Hello, My Name is Abigail. She was nominated for Best Performance in a Feature Film by a Young Actress for Shorts at the 2010 and won Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast for that film. The same year Jolie was nominated for Best Young Actress in a Short Film for her leading role in Strange Little Girl at the YAA event. (Directed by the award-winning Turkish director Bessy Adut, the film went on to win Best Narrative Short Award at the Pasadena Film Festival). In 2009 she was nominated in the same category for her performance in Juvenile Delinquence at the YAA event.
Jolie's active film career has been complemented by numerous stage roles in Los Angeles as well as overseas. The young actress garnered rave reviews for her performance as Veruca Salt in the 2012 D.E.E. Studio Production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Hudson Theater in Los Angeles.
In the summer of 2013, Jolie played a leading role in a new original musical entitled Detention presented at the Palmer Cultural Centre at TASIS (The American School in Lugano, Switzerland). The young actress also played a leading role in Spy School, an original musical presented at TASIS in 2012. Jolie captured a leading role playing Andrea Devereaux in Once on this Island -- all lines spoken in French! -- in 2011. Jolie played Inga in the D.E.E. Studio production of Young Frankenstein performed at the Hudson Theater in 2012 as well as Lieslin The Sound of Music presented at Hollywood's Assistance League Playhouse. In 2011, the young actress performed as Glinda in a Magic Mirror Theater Production of Yellow Brick Road. Jolie took on the roles of Rizzo, Consuelo and Penelope in the 2010 Red Carpet Theater musical revue entitled Nifty Fifties staged at Hollywood's Stella Adler Theater.
Jolie won Best Young Actress - Live Theater -- in 2014 at the 35th Young Arts Awards (YAA) for her role in an original musical, Detention, stage at the American School in Lugano, Switzerland. In 2013, Jolie was nominated for Best Performance Live Theater - Young Actress for her role as Veruca Salt at the Young Artist Awards (YAA). The young actress was nominated in the same category for her French-speaking role in Once on this Island at the 2012 YAA event. In 2011, Jolie was nominated for YAA's Best Performance Live Theater -Young Actress for her performance as Rizzo in Nifty Fifties. She was nominated in the same category for her performance as the Artful Dodger in Oliver.
In addition to acting in films and on the stage, Jolie's recent creative endeavors have also included screenplay writing. Inspired by two children's books that Jolie wrote and illustrated several years ago -- Puwaii Adventures with Joliea and Friends tm and Puwaii Adventures with Joliea and Friends...the adventures continue tm -- her screenplay efforts have garnered considerable success! (Helped in large part by her experience as a film and stage actress.) Jolie has also written and recorded a Puwaii theme song. In addition, she completed her first music video, Seal it with a Kiss, in 2012 and released her song, Willing to Die, on soundcloud.
The sequel to the original Puwaii screenplay --Puwaii Adventures - Brazil -- won the best Sci-fi/Fantasy Award (14-18) at Hollywood's 18th annual International Family Film Festival (IFFF) festival in 2013. The original screenplay -Puwaii Adventures -- was a semi-finalist at the 2012 Moondance Film Festival in NYC. Jolie's original screenplay - Puwaii Adventures - was selected as the Best Comedy (8-13) at the 17th annual FFF Festival in 2012.
