About Me
HERE'S THE RAPID FIRE RUNDOWN ON ME...
AS A PERFORMER:
Elliana is a proud member of the small but mighty clan of natives born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. After experiencing the adrenaline rush from her first dance recital at the ripe of age of three, she has been hooked on performing ever since. At first, she thought she was going to be a prima ballerina, but luckily things have changed. She, instead, found an old VHS of the 1981 filmed stage adaptation of Pippin and her love for musical theatre was born. She quickly threw herself into the local community theatre scene, learning the ropes with her hometown mentors Voltaire Verzosa, Ashley Oblad, Jane Bartell, and Lynn Fitzpatrick with whom she owes her grit and her heart.
After moving across the country to see how the other half lives, she graduated cum laude from Emerson College with a BFA in Musical Theatre in May 2024, working closely with professors Christopher Shin, Scott LaFeber, Jon Goldberg, Ilana Ransom Toeplitz, and Sabrina Learman. They have taught her endlessly about precision and craft, and to say they have changed her outlook on theatre is an understatement!
Since starting her professional career, she has become a Boston based actress and has been fortunate enough to work on all kinds of material with skilled professionals like Courtney O' Connor, Dan Rodriguez, Marisa Kirby, and Tony award composer Richard Maltby Jr., which has just been the cherry on top!
Aside from theatre, she has continued to nurture a profound passion for tap dance while training under tap masters Tony Coppola and Dianne Walker since her early teen years . The Leon Collins tap rep along with theatrical, rhythm, and funk tap styles continue to hold a special place in her heart.
She is currently searching for her next big adventure!
AS A CREATIVE:
Along with performing, Elliana dabbles in her own creative work as a choreographer and educator. She has been lucky enough to continue teaching performance at Positively Arts Inc, a nonprofit who's mission is to "empower youth through performance and artistic discovery", and pop up dance classes whenever she can.
She has also been fortunate enough to assistant choreograph and dance captain for Christopher Shin across multiple productions in the Greater Boston Area. She loves to be behind the scenes, creating movement that feels satisfying to the body yet crucial to the storytelling.
Here's a photo from her production of A Chorus Line
at Emerson College in October 2023.
AS JUST ANOTHER GIRL:
SOME FUN FACTS
Let's be real: I love my full legal turned stage name, but we can drop the formalities! I more commonly go by Ellie, but I don't lead with that in fear that someone will think my name is really Eleanor, and that's just no fair to my parents!
Some of my dream roles include Amalia Balash (She Loves Me), Kathy Seldon (Singin' In The Rain), Portia (Something Rotten!), Hope Cladwell (Urinetown) (which I got to play in 2024; this is a photo from our press release- one down!) Marty (Grease), Clara (The Light in the Piazza), Sonya (Natasha... Great Comet of 1812), Val (A Chorus Line), and any woman in the Sondheim canon.
I trained as a pre-professional ballroom dancer for over ten years! I competed Open Gold in American Smooth styles and Open Silver in International Latin and American Rhythm styles, learning from ballroom champions Mariusz Zakrezewski, Dana and Tony Delgado, and Donovan Kirrane. It's a hobby I still pursue today!
My big three on my astrological zodiac chart are as follows: Leo Sun, Capricorn Moon, Capricorn Rising.
I like to describe myself as an actress with my spiritual big three: Laura Benanti Sun, Jane Krakowski Moon, Stephanie Styles Rising.
Here's a picture of Stephanie and I at Schmackary's a few months ago (I love you Stephanie! Thanks for the laughter & the gladness!)
I've always had a deep love for filmmaking. During the pandemic, I ran my own blog called "Confessions of a Film Junkie". Now, I resort to writing mildly funny, somewhat niche reviews on my Letterboxd.
Some of my other interests include (but are not limited to) podcasts, traveling (this picture was taken in Milan!), thrifting, museums, baseball (Let's Go Red Sox!), reading, The Royal Family, and collecting Jellycats (I have over fifty and counting! Jellycat, if you need a brand ambassador please reach out!).