The acting and writing talents of Patterson native JoHannah James are causing the drama lights of New York City to shine extra bright as she has won awards for acting, and is currently writing, co-directing and starring in her own feature length movie “Dirt.’’
The 24-year-old said, her movie is set to film in August and is a southern gothic adaptation of Sophocles’ “Antigone,’’ set in 1950s Georgia.
This represents her present career in New York as a freelance actress, writer, producer, director and sound designer, fulfilling her theater aspirations to be an actress and writer.
A 2024 graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in drama, her career path includes a number of drama awards. She won the Best Leading Actress in a Short Award from the Brooklyn International Short Film Festival for her role as Kate Bender in “Hell’s Half-Acre Sojourn.’’
The short horror film is based on a true story and set on the prairies of 1870s Kansas. It currently is in fundraising to be turned into a feature.
James said she’s been in several films in the past few years with leading roles in shorts “Rockabye Birdy,’’ “Devoted,’’ “Devil’s Playwright’’ and “Off the Record,’’ as well as the feature films “Last Summer’’ and “Sophomore Year, 2020.’’
She said her acting began in plays at Patterson Elementary School, and continued through Pierce Middle School and Pierce County High School, graduating in 2020 with honors. She was part of the award-winning One Act Team all four years, and had a lead role in “When She Had Wings’’ which won state in 2018.
“I was inspired to go into acting by my grandmother, Jo Jo Kicklighter, of Patterson, my “auntie Wynn” Carswell Plowden and uncle John B. Plowden of Fernandina Beach, Fla.; my aunt Tina Naylor, all of whom encouraged me to be on stage from an early age and I’ve been supported by my parents Dana and Rodney James of Patterson every step of the way,’’ James said. “Growing up, I took voice, piano and dance lessons, and participated in writing competitions.”
Other grandparents are the late Edison Kicklighter of Patterson, the late Gloria Carswell James of Pierce County and Mary Lane James of St. Simons Island and the late Billy James of Blackshear.
