BIO

Tanna Frederick is an award-winning Stage and Film Actress, Producer, and Environmental Activist. She most recently completed principle photography as the lead in South of Hope Street in Switzerland in March 2020. In 2019, Tanna produced and stars in the feature film TWO WAYS HOME, now enjoying an award-winning run on the festival circuit. Concurrently, Tanna alongside Randal Kleiser (director, Grease, Blue Lagoon) launched DEFROST, a live-action virtual reality experience, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes.

Miss Frederick has previously starred in seven feature films directed by film iconoclast Henry Jaglom, including Ovation!, Irene in Time and Hollywood Dreams. Her recent theatrical credits include John Patrick Shanley’s Danny & the Deep Blue Sea (LA Times Critics Pick) directed by Carl Weathers (Rocky), The Dutchman by Amiri Baraka which was a select at the National Black Theater Festival, and The Rainmaker, which earned her The LA Stage Best Actress Award, the EDDON Award, and an LA Times Critics Choice Award. Frederick has garnered Best Actress awards for her work on screen from the Montana Independent Film Festival, World Fest Houston, Wild Rose Film Festival, and the Fargo Film Festival. Method Fest named her “One to Watch” and she received the CineCause Award, the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival’s Maverick Award from Danny Glover. She recently has enjoyed Grand Jury Awards for her work as a Producer on TWO WAYS HOME in 2019, which has been recently endorsed by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) as a film which “makes a valuable contribution to the public understanding of mental health issues and to reduce stigma surrounding mental health”.

She is the founder of ProjectSaveOurSurf.org (@PSOSurf) hosting monthly beach cleanups and a camp that has reached thousands of underprivileged youth in Southern California and Mexico, educating them on environmental issues with hands-on instruction in yoga and surfing. Tanna is a marathon runner, a fifth-degree black belt, and has appeared on the cover of Black Belt Magazine and Taekwondo. She has been featured in Runners World, Women’s Fitness Magazine, Women’s Running, and Marathon and Beyond. She appears this month on the cover of Ability Magazine in the “Tanna Frederick Issue”.

Tanna is a true golden age throwback. I can easily see her as a contract player of the Thirties. A brassy, saucy, firecracker, full of moxie, a dame who could pull a heist, crack a joke, break a heart, croon a tune, and never muss her hair

– Noah Wyle

Concurrently, Tanna alongside Randal Kleiser (director, Grease, Blue Lagoon) launched DEFROST, a live-action virtual reality experience, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes. Miss Frederick has previously starred in seven feature films directed by film iconoclast Henry Jaglom, including Ovation!, Irene in Time and Hollywood Dreams.

Her recent theatrical credits include John Patrick Shanley’s Danny & the Deep Blue Sea (LA Times Critics Pick) directed by Carl Weathers (Rocky), The Dutchman by Amiri Baraka which was a select at the National Black Theater Festival, and The Rainmaker, which earned her The LA Stage Best Actress Award, the EDDON Award, and an LA Times Critics Choice Award.

Unless you see the current production of The Rainmaker, you’ve simply never seen this play. Each performance should be distilled, bottled, and preserved for posterity but the standout of this cast is TANNA FREDERICK – who by some magic of theatrical alchemy – performs a transformation not to be missed!

– The LA Times

Frederick has garnered Best Actress awards for her work on screen from the Montana Independent Film Festival, World Fest Houston, Wild Rose Film Festival, and the Fargo Film Festival. Method Fest named her “One to Watch” and she received the CineCause Award, the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival’s Maverick Award from Danny Glover.

She recently has enjoyed Grand Jury Awards for her work as a Producer on TWO WAYS HOME in 2019, which has been recently endorsed by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) as a film which “makes a valuable contribution to the public understanding of mental health issues and to reduce stigma surrounding mental health”.

She is the founder of ProjectSaveOurSurf.org (@PSOSurf) hosting monthly beach cleanups and a camp that has reached thousands of underprivileged youth in Southern California and Mexico, educating them on environmental issues with hands-on instruction in yoga and surfing.

Tanna is a marathon runner, a fifth-degree black belt, and has appeared on the cover of Black Belt Magazine and Taekwondo. She has been featured in Runners World, Women’s Fitness Magazine, Women’s Running, and Marathon and Beyond. She appears this month on the cover of Ability Magazine in the “Tanna Frederick Issue”.

ACCOLADES

2019

WINNER – AWARENESS FESTIVAL – GRAND JURY PRIZE, BEST FEATURE FILM – TWO WAYS HOME

WINNER – WOMEN’S TEXAS FILM FESTIVAL – WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AWARD: TWO WAYS HOME

WINNER – MARINA DEL REY FILM FESTIVAL – BEST ACTRESS AWARD: TWO WAYS HOME

WINNER – MARINA DEL REY FILM FESTIVAL – GRAND JURY PRIZE, BEST FEATURE – TWO WAYS HOME

WINNER – FEMALE FILMMAKER FILM FESTIVAL – BEST FEATURE FILM: TWO WAYS HOME

WINNER-2019 BEST NARRATIVE VR SERIES DTLA FESTIVAL:
‘DEFROST’, PRODUCER/ LEAD
(CO-PRODUCER/ DIR RANDAL KLEISER ‘GREASE’)

2017

LA CRITIC’S PICK, DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, DIR. CARL WEATHERS

EDDON AWARD, DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, DIR. CARL WEATHERS

2015

THE DUTCHMAN, NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL, N.C., DIR. LEVY LEE SIMON

2013

LA STAGE BEST ACTRESS AWARD: N. RICHARD NASH ‘THE

RAINMAKER EDDON AWARD BEST ACTRESS: N. RICHARD NASH ‘THE RAINMAKER

LA TIMES’ CRITIC’S CHOICE: N. RICHARD NASH ‘THE RAINMAKER’

2012

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD: UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

CINECAUSE AWARD: JULIAN DUBUQUE FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER – WILD ROSE FILM FESTIVAL BEST ACTRESS AWARD: JUST 45 MINUTES FROM BROADWAY

2011

WINNER – WORLDFEST HOUSTON BEST ACTRESS AWARD: QUEEN OF THE LOT

2010

WINNER – WILD ROSE FILM FESTIVAL BEST ACTRESS AWARD: QUEEN OF THE LOT

2009

WINNER – MAVERICK AWARD (DANNY GLOVER) – LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL

2008

WINNER – FARGO FILM FESTIVAL – BEST ACTRESS AWARD: HOLLYWOOD DREAMS

2007

WINNER – MONTANA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL – BEST ACTRESS AWARD: HOLLYWOOD DREAMS

FOUNDER / CEO PROJECT SAVE OUR SURF-NON-PROFIT COMMITTED TO COMMUNITY AND YOUTH EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION IN OCEAN CONSERVATION INITIATIVES

2006-

FOUNDER & DIRECTOR OF THE IOWA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

- 2017

2006

WINNER – PERFORMER TO WATCH – METHODFEST

1999

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA VALEDICTORIAN POLY-SCI/ THEATRE ARTS (WRITING)

FITNESS – MARATHON AND HALF-MARATHON RUNNER: FEATURED IN RUNNER’S WORLD, WOMEN’S FITNESS MAGAZINE, WOMEN’S RUNNING MAGAZINE, MARATHON AND BEYOND MAGAZINE

COVER OF BLACK BELT MAGAZINE, TKD MAGAZINE: 5TH DEGREE BLACK BELT