Biography
Alida Rose Delaney was born in Brooklyn, and raised in the suburbs of Long Island. She is an interdisciplinary artist, with a focus in performance, design, and production. She is a descendant of architect William Van Alen (Chrysler building), space scientist James Van Allen (Van Allen radiation belts), and tennis official Jimmy Van Alen (founder of the International Tennis Hall of Fame). Alida is of Dutch, Italian, and Middle Eastern descent.
A former ballerina, Alida trained with some of the world's most elite companies and schools, including American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet NY, and New York State Summer School of the Arts (under Damian Woetzel) along with dancers from New York City Ballet. She has danced works by: George Balanchine, Leslie Browne, Adrienne Hurd, Harold Lander, to name a few.
After receiving her BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College in 2014, Alida transitioned into a professional career as an actor. She appeared in The Knock's notable Sims inspired music video, Classic (2014) - surpassing over 4 million views. Her first feature film, playing the female lead, Anna, in the post-college drama In A Sentimental Mood (2015) received critical acclaim at the (2018) Massachusetts Independent Film Festival- taking home Best Actress, Best Feature, and Best Writing. She subsequently had sizable roles in several short/indie films, the lead, Funny Bones, in the experimental French-short Devour Me (2016), and as the tragic dancer, in Alexia Salingaros (2016 SXSW Grand Jury Prize Winner and featured in Tribeca's "I am America" competition) Red Feather (2017). Other credits include: The Knick (2016) and Vinyl (2015).
In the summer of 2016, she made her theater debut in the NY Fringe Festival's, The Fall (2016), which received an Off-Broadway extension at the SoHo Playhouse. She is most noted for Charles Mee's, Soot and Spit (2017), directed by Drama-Desk nominated director Kim Weild. It was the winner of the Outstanding Performance Art Production (2018 New York Innovative Theatre Awards), and "put its money where its mouth is, casting-wise, nudging us to consider more deeply the notion of artists who don't fit the standard mold" (NYT Critic's Pick). Alida's performance as a Russian fighter-pilot and closeted lesbian, Nina, in the original cast of Night Witches (2017) was revered as "one of the more tender and interesting portrayals of emerging love between women that I've seen recently" (D.C. Metro Theatre Arts). Other credits include, Long Lost John: A John Lennon Story (2018) the #1 show at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, Messages (2018) written and directed by Matthew Gasda, The Clockwork Boy (2016) as part of the NY Thespis Festival, and in Michael Count's world-premiere opera, Ouroboros Trilogy- Naga (2016) at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston.
Alida's next upcoming feature, The Mohawk Trail (2020)- where she stars alongside Catherine Eaton, is set to wrap post later this year. She will also star in Pedro Tamames upcoming film, Grapefruit (2020), set to shoot in the spring.
