2025 Live Adjudicators

Jessica Watson

Speech Arts

Jessica Watson

Jessica Watson is a classically trained actor, dialect coach and theatre educator based out of Toronto, ON. Originally from Acton, ON, she attended the University of Alberta before pursuing her master's in acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, where she specialized in classical acting, dialects, stage combat, and comedy. Since returning to Canada in 2020, Jessica has been working on screen as an actor and writer (under a stage name) while assisting Canadian playwrights and screenwriters as a developmental editor. She's worked as a standup comedian, a university recruiter, a public speaking coach, and is currently a series regular on a Hallmark television series.

Jessica has been performing for over fifteen years and brings a broad and unique array of methods and disciplines to her work. In the Canadian film industry, she is widely regarded as a versatile and transformative actor, appearing in a wide variety of roles across film and television. When she's not performing, Jessica teaches speech and performance to youths through the UK-based performance training program Stagecoach and is a private audition and dialect coach for adult and youth theatre and film actors alike. She's a passionate advocate for arts accessibility and education, and has first-hand experience in the transformative, confidence boosting power of the performing arts.