Biography

** Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2009 by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette for her performance in Mouth to Mouth.

This season, Ms. Parrish appeared as Paquette in the Quantum Theatre production of Candide, as well as Flavia/Belinda in Noises Off and Delphi/Nola in Weird Romance at the Theatre Factory In Trafford PA. Up next she will join the cast of The Club at Washington PA’s Off The Wall Theatre in the role of Bertie, April 2010.

Recently, Ms. Parrish completed shooting “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It” with Steve Guttenberg, Richard Kind and Sabrina Bryan in Pittsburgh. “If It Ain’t Broke” had it’s premier at the Three Rivers Film Festival in Pittsburgh in November, 2009 — www.ifitaintbrokebreakit.com. Last summer, Parrish joined the cast of Midnight Radio at Bricolage in Pittsburgh and played Cornelia in Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot at Quantum Theatre, directed by Ronald Allan Lindblom (Read Reviews).

On the NYC theatre scene of late: Brenda in Paris by Cole Porter with the Obie Award winning Musicals Tonight! directed by Tom Mills, musical direction by Rick Hip Flores, produced by Mel Miller. Other cast members included David Edwards, Gina Milo, Jennifer Evans, Kevin Kraft, Mary Van Arsdel, John Alban Coughlan and Selby Brown. September/October, 2007, Ms. Parrish played Maisie in Sherlock Holmes; The Early Years, presented at the highly acclaimed New York Music Festival (NYMF). Sherlock received several mentions in the 2007 NYMF awards and won the Theater for the American Musical Award (TAM) 2007. In The Dinosaur Musical by Rob and Willie Reale which had its world premier at the Arden Theatre in Philly, Ms. Parrish originated the role of Caroltta Devries. The musical was nominated for a Barrymore for best original music and won for best costume design (Richard St. Clair).

Ms. Parrish was accepted into and participated in several prestigious arts programs throughout her early education including the Tri-District Arts Consortium in SC and the SC Govenors School of the Arts. She was also awarded Superior in Acting from the South Eastern Theatre Conference in 1990.

Ms. Parrish began her professional actor’s training at the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Drama. NCSA is ranked one of the top acting conservatories in the nation. At NCSA, Ms. Parrish received extensive classical training including voice and speech work with an emphasis on alignment, mask and movement, both the Meisner and Stanislovski Techniques, and Shakespeare. She has been trained by some of the best teachers in the nation, including world renowned director and NCSA Dean, Gerald Freedman, Cigdem Onat, and Broadway dance legend, Molly Murray. While at school, Ms. Parrish played The Bakers Wife in Into the Woods, Beatrice in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds and Natasha in Rough Crossing (a role she reprised recently at Maine Public Theatre). After graduating, she returned to NC to play the role of Angharad in the musical version of the novel “How Green Was My Valley” entitled A Time for Singing, written by Gerald Freedman and John Morris.

Since moving to New York, Ms. Parrish has been working in New York in the off and off-off Broadway scene as well as regionally and in national tours. In the summer of 2000, Ms. Parrish had the great fortune of studying with Patsy Rodenburg and Ian McKellen at the Royal National Theatre in London.

Ms. Parrish continues her education at the prestigious Conservatory for the Performing Arts (COPA) at Point Park University in the MFA in Theatre Performance and Pedagogy Program. In addition, Ms. Parrish completed an MA degree in Psychology August, 2009.