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A native of Rock Hill, Jessica discovered her passion for the stage while participating in local productions at York County Ballet and Rock Hill Community Theatre. She continued her dance education - focusing on ballet and pointe, modern, jazz, and tap - at the American Ballet Theater and Broadway Artists Alliance in New York City.

In high school, Jessica attended the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities as a Drama major. In her senior year, she was named a YoungArts Silver Medalist in Spoken Theater and a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, ultimately performing at the Kennedy Center. Jessica next attended Yale University where she studied a variety of acting techniques, as well as playwriting, directing for film and stage, experimental theater, clowning, improvisation, and theater history.

She performed in dozens of productions at Yale - including playing Sheila in Hair, Owen Meany in A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Austin in True West - and continued her dance education as part of the Yale Dance Theater, originating new works by resident artists from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Trisha Brown Dance Company. She also studied classical theater at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Oxford University in London.