Shelly Jennings
- Actress
- Producer
Shelly Jennings (born December 27th) is an American film actress currently residing in Kansas.
Shelly Jennings was born to an accountant and cable technician in Junction City, Kansas on December 27th. The only child of the couple, she spent her upbringing being raised in the nearby area in Kansas surrounded by extended family. Throughout her childhood, Jennings stayed active by playing softball and taking dancing lessons. The latter of these two would eventually lead her to practice ballet as an adolescent and by the age of 12 she danced with the Topeka Ballet in a rendition of The Nutcracker. As she entered her teenage years, Jennings' enthusiasm for ballet grew and she developed aspirations to dance in a professional dance troupe and/or perform on Broadway. Wanting to first obtain a college degree, she attended Kansas State University after graduating Junction City High School. Here Jennings' career focus shifted after taking several classes on education and special needs children. Influenced by her grandmother, who had been a foster mother for over 50 years, and a desire to follow in her footsteps, Jennings graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in education. She would use this degree to become a teacher and assistant director at a local Preschool.
It wasn't until 2005 that Jennings began her acting career. To help alleviate her fear of public speaking she took an introduction to acting class taught by Dwight Tolar at the Manhattan Arts Center in Manhattan, Kansas. Although the first class was short, Jennings quickly developed a love for the art and took an audition class with the same instructor soon after. From there, she started attending classes at the Actors Training Studio with Andy Garrison in Kansas City. These classes provided her the opportunity to do work as an extra with various directors including Kevin Willmont, Patrick Rea, and Jeremy Riggs. She landed her first speaking role in the movie "Deep River", directed by Scott Kessler and in 2008 played Miss Gretchen in the film Watch Out. She has since starred in many shorts, commercials, and competition films and, most recently, has begun working on the web series "The Chosen".
In 2007 Jennings was involved in an auto-accident that triggered an undiagnosed nerve disease throughout her body. While she first suffered from moderate injuries from the accident, including a ripped disc in her lower back, the nerve disease slowly began to provide additional complications, such as difficulty walking. This caused her to sit out of major acting gigs (accepting only short roles) for several years while she focused on her health. Unfortunately, she also had to cancel meetings she had previous planned with a casting director in Los Angeles where she had the potential work with several notable directors.
With time and patience her injuries eventually healed, and the nerve disease she struggled with went into remission. With better health, Jennings has been able to take on progressively more demanding acting roles. While she has told friends that she is still healing in some ways from the trauma of the accident, she believes that the overall experience has made her a deeper person and is something she can draw upon for her acting.
Jennings currently lives with her family in a small, undisclosed town in Kansas. In addition to her biological family, Jennings and her husband also sponsor two children abroad (one living in Burkina Faso and another living in The Democratic Republic of Congo).
Jennings considers herself a spiritual person rather than claiming a certain denomination. Similarly, she holds no political affiliation but simply believes that every human should be treated with dignity and that no person is more valuable than another.
Shelly Jennings was born to an accountant and cable technician in Junction City, Kansas on December 27th. The only child of the couple, she spent her upbringing being raised in the nearby area in Kansas surrounded by extended family. Throughout her childhood, Jennings stayed active by playing softball and taking dancing lessons. The latter of these two would eventually lead her to practice ballet as an adolescent and by the age of 12 she danced with the Topeka Ballet in a rendition of The Nutcracker. As she entered her teenage years, Jennings' enthusiasm for ballet grew and she developed aspirations to dance in a professional dance troupe and/or perform on Broadway. Wanting to first obtain a college degree, she attended Kansas State University after graduating Junction City High School. Here Jennings' career focus shifted after taking several classes on education and special needs children. Influenced by her grandmother, who had been a foster mother for over 50 years, and a desire to follow in her footsteps, Jennings graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in education. She would use this degree to become a teacher and assistant director at a local Preschool.
It wasn't until 2005 that Jennings began her acting career. To help alleviate her fear of public speaking she took an introduction to acting class taught by Dwight Tolar at the Manhattan Arts Center in Manhattan, Kansas. Although the first class was short, Jennings quickly developed a love for the art and took an audition class with the same instructor soon after. From there, she started attending classes at the Actors Training Studio with Andy Garrison in Kansas City. These classes provided her the opportunity to do work as an extra with various directors including Kevin Willmont, Patrick Rea, and Jeremy Riggs. She landed her first speaking role in the movie "Deep River", directed by Scott Kessler and in 2008 played Miss Gretchen in the film Watch Out. She has since starred in many shorts, commercials, and competition films and, most recently, has begun working on the web series "The Chosen".
In 2007 Jennings was involved in an auto-accident that triggered an undiagnosed nerve disease throughout her body. While she first suffered from moderate injuries from the accident, including a ripped disc in her lower back, the nerve disease slowly began to provide additional complications, such as difficulty walking. This caused her to sit out of major acting gigs (accepting only short roles) for several years while she focused on her health. Unfortunately, she also had to cancel meetings she had previous planned with a casting director in Los Angeles where she had the potential work with several notable directors.
With time and patience her injuries eventually healed, and the nerve disease she struggled with went into remission. With better health, Jennings has been able to take on progressively more demanding acting roles. While she has told friends that she is still healing in some ways from the trauma of the accident, she believes that the overall experience has made her a deeper person and is something she can draw upon for her acting.
Jennings currently lives with her family in a small, undisclosed town in Kansas. In addition to her biological family, Jennings and her husband also sponsor two children abroad (one living in Burkina Faso and another living in The Democratic Republic of Congo).
Jennings considers herself a spiritual person rather than claiming a certain denomination. Similarly, she holds no political affiliation but simply believes that every human should be treated with dignity and that no person is more valuable than another.
