Bio | Stephanie St. James

Stephanie St. James is the daughter of a Russian-born mother of Jewish descent & her father is of Guyanese descent and both met in Jerusalem, Israel. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, her grandmother Sofia Katz being one of two Jewish survivors of the entire Jewish community in Budslav, Poland & her grandfather David Kopelewicz a decorated Partisan Commander who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust.

Stephanie was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in the Northern California Bay Area where she began her career in the theater at a very young age. She studied in New York City at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and holds a BFA in Musical Theater with a Minor in Global Studies from The New School University in NYC.

Stephanie has been seen internationally in such productions as Oprah Winfrey presents “The Color Purple (musical)”, for which she was nominated in 2008 for the NAACP Theater Award for Best Supporting Female – Equity for her role as “Squeak”. She received the 2010 San Francisco Broadway World Fan Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, for her role as Mimi in Rent. In 2011 she was honored with the FREC Award by The Film Recording Entertainment Council in South Florida. A few of her other favorite projects include “Footloose First National Broadway Tour” in the role of “Rusty”, European Tour of “Fame” in the role of Mabel, Gary Marshall’s “Happy Days” in the role of “Lola”, "Grease" in the role of "Frenchy", and “Portlandia” on IFC on the First Feminist City Episode. As an acting coach and mentor, Stephanie has trained students who have gone on to star in "Hamilton-the Musical", Disney Cruise Line, Independent Films, and TV shows.

She has over 25 years of experience performing on the world’s stages and has even entertained the former President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Stephanie has been seen as a panelist speaker for Facebook for which she currently serves on the Small and Medium Business Council as CEO of her Business Amazing Fairytale Parties® She has appeared on television networks NBC, CW, PBS, IFC and is a published writer in USA Today.

Highlights:

2020: Stephanie is currently helping to build a school in Uganda with Create Foundation providing children with an education and supplying a village in Uganda with clean drinking water by building a water well.
2019: Producing End the Cycle as a One-Act play which debuted as a staged reading in the Fertile Ground Festival
2018 The feature film “Removed” in which Stephanie is an executive producer wins Best Feature and Best Actress at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Stephanie is developing an original cartoon animated series with music, entitled Ziggy Francis and Her Amazing Adventures®. For the last 3 years with her team, they have created the concept for the Ziggy Francis Project. Stephanie is currently the co-host of the Build Your Dream Podcast available on iTunes and additional platforms, with her co-host Troy Horne.
2017 creates and co-writes the short film “End the Cycle”. Filming for the End the Cycle promotional trailer began in November of 2017.
2016 asked to be a keynote speaker for Facebook Inc. Working together with Facebook Inc. began as an invitation to be a panelist speaker. After speaking on several panels, Facebook Inc. invited Stephanie to join the Facebook Inc. Small and Medium Business Council. Stephanie became a published author in USA Today and The Future of Business and Tech.

Recipient of the 2015 Spirit of Sonoma Award – Nominated by the North Bay Black Chamber of Commerce.

2014 honored to be named by the North Bay Business Journal as one of the Top 40 under 40 in Business in Northern California.
2013 The launch of Amazing Fairytale Parties LLC becomes a multiple award-winning children's entertainment company.

The Launch of The St. James Acting Studio in Miami, Florida took place in 2010 where Stephanie successfully coached clients ranging from Business Executives, Television Hosts, Actors, Singers, and Performers.

Additional Background:

After suffering for over a decade with the painful symptoms of Endometriosis, she was officially diagnosed with the disease in 2003. To date, it is noted that she has survived six major surgeries from the disease and she went public in 2007 to raise awareness. She nearly lost her life to Endometriosis in 2012 when undergoing over 4 surgeries within a 2 month period & a 3-month hospital stays in NYC. When asked about that time in her life she states, “It was one of the most challenging times in my life, but I survived it and now I am fearless because of it and will do whatever I can to help others who suffer like me”. She is an advocate for women who suffers from Endometriosis worldwide and is known as one of the first women suffering from the disease to go public. For her work with Endometriosis Awareness, she was honored as a 2012 WEGO Health Activist Award Nominee.

Learn More About Endometriosis by Watching this Insightful Interview on Community Earmark: