Hi I’m Janna Cardia and I’m so happy you stopped by to check out my website! As you may already know from my home page… I’m a performer! I’m originally from the Chicago suburbs and I lived in New York (specifically Brooklyn, for about 14-years), and now LA!
I started out as a singer and a bit of a “ham.” I have an identical twin sister named Julie who also happens to be a performer and together, as children, we sang and “hammed” it up everywhere we went.
One of my first memories of performing was when I was four-years-old at the theme park “Six Flags Great America.” Julie and I saw the giant American Flag at the entrance of the park and we ran right up to it, put our hands over our hearts and proudly sang “You're a Grand Old Flag” to anyone who would listen! From that point on we sang for school, church, community theatre, and a professional children's chorus called “Glen Ellyn Children’s Choir.” All that singing led to backyard productions, school plays and musicals, church choir, christmas pageants, becoming thespians in High School and joining the Speech Team (A.K.A. Forensics, so weird).
By the time I graduated High School it was pretty evident that all I wanted to do was Musical Theatre. I ended up majoring in Musical Theatre with a minor in Dance at Millikin University (or as I like to call it “The Juilliard of the Mid-West!”)
After graduating from Millikin with a BFA in Musical Theatre/Dance, I moved to Chicago to begin my career. I dove in doing tons of Black Box Theatre, Children’s Theatre, Dinner Theatre, Summer Stock, Cruise Ships, and Cabarets. After about six-years of building my resume and Equity points, I finally joined the Union and moved to New York… Brooklyn!
Ahhhh New York… this town was seriously made for me. On any given day I could easily audition four times… if I wanted to. The possibilities were endless. I’m an early riser anyway, so I didn’t mind standing in line waiting to audition at 5am. If I got there early enough I knew I would be seen. Throughout my time in New York I did tons of Regional Theatre, National Tours, an International Tour in Asia, Readings of New Musicals, as well as producing my own Cabaret with my twin sister, called “Womb for Two” (which was nominated for a MAC award!).
Honestly, I never thought I’d leave New York until my twin sister moved to LA to get her Masters in Acting at Cal State Fullerton. Her partner of 20-years followed her out there to pursue his writing career, and then my partner Greg followed them out there to pursue his writing career. All of this left me wondering if maybe I should give LA a try.
And that’s where I am today: living in LA still pursuing Musical Theatre, but I’ve also added TV, Film, Commercials, Web-Series, Improv, Audiobook Narration, and Christmas Caroling (yep, it’s big out here), to my field of interest. If I thought Chicago and New York had a lot to offer artistically, oh my goodness, LA is non-stop. People are constantly creating out here and it’s inspiring!
Thanks for taking the time to learn a bit about me. But just so you know, I’m not all “Show Business.” I’m also a Hot Yoga instructor and practitioner. I’ve practiced Hot Yoga for 13-years and have taught for 9 years. I have a dedicated meditation practice as well. I feel that yoga and meditation have been wonderful tools in helping me maintain my body for the demands required as a performer, my mind for the perspective and discipline needed in this business, and my spirit so that I can constantly replenish my soul in order to create and evolve.
