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Farah Merani
Actor/Filmmaker/Advocate Farah Merani is a graduate of the Drama Centre London and the University College Drama Program at the University of Toronto , while also receiving a diploma in Business Management for Media Professionals, co-sponsored by Humber College and WIFT. She has performed in Canada and the US, throughout Europe and in Russia. Some of her screen credits include: the new Quantum Leap on NBC, AppleTV’s SEE with Jason Momoa, Shadowhunters, and Station 19 and the feature film Eat Wheaties! starring Tony Hale and Sarah Goldberg . Farah was also cast in the lead role in an hour long dark comedy pilot, Hashtag Blessed, originally for Amazon.

On stage, she is a current member of the Ensemble Shakespeare Theatre in Pasadena, starred in the World Premiere of Little Pretty and the Exceptional at Factory Theatre in Toronto, earned a Best Performance nod for her work in the 2016 Summerworks hit, Trompe le Mort , and appeared in Wajdi Muawad’s production of Scorched at the Old Vic Tunnels in London.

In addition to being an actor, she has written and produced dozens of projects with her company, Lifeguard Productions, was an associate producer on the web series, Sudden Master , for OMNI TV, and both starred in and served as an associate producer in the feature film, Great Great Great , which just completed a theatrical release across North America. Her film work has screened on the international festival circuit, including TIFF, Locarno, the Austin Film Festival, the Atlantic Film Festival, Reel Asian Film Festival, the Women’s International Film Festival, the Reel World Film Festival, Garden State International Film Festival, Women’s Voices Now, and the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Presently, she is developing multiple television series, as well as writing a children’s graphic novel and soon to be animated television show. In an industry milestone, Farah Merani takes the spotlight as the voice of "Jala," a queer South Asian woman, the lead character in the groundbreaking video game,Thirsty Suitors, created by Outerloop Games and produced by Annapurna/Sony Studies. It is the first fully South Asian led and created game and won the Best Game Award at the 2022 Tribeca Festival, which released on November 3rd, 2023. The game secured the Game Award at The Tribeca Festival in June 2022. Shortly after its release, Merani received nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Character for her portrayal of 'Jala' at the D.I.C.E. Awards, as well as for Outstanding Video Game at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

Merani recently participated in the prestigious 2023 Sundance Episodic Lab for a TV series she is developing. This highly acclaimed program, which occurred November 3-7, 2023 at Sundance Mountain in Utah, is presented by the Sundance Institute.

Advocating for greater representation in the film and television industries is at the core of what inspires her as an artist. She is a co-founders of Women On Screen, a for-purpose organization set to promote a more dynamic representation of women in the entertainment industry. Since 2014, the core program for Women On Screen has been a six-week development incubator program for short form web series, namely pilot scripts, crafted by female-identifying screenwriters and featuring female-driven content. From 2014-2018, she was the co-chair of the Diversity Committee at Actra Toronto and continues to be a member of the Actra National Diversity Committee. In Los Angeles, she launched the Firecracker Department Script Department with Naomi Sniekus and hosted a quarterly script reading series, while also mentoring with University of Southern California. Of all the roles she holds, it is her most recent that drives her purpose as an artist, that of “JEDI Consultant” for the entertainment industry to her resume: Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Farah is represented by GVA Talent for theatrical and managed by World Builder Entertainment.