1408

Background:

American actrress Jasmine Jessica Anthony is maybe best known for her roles in the television series “Commander in Chief” (2005-2006), as Amy Calloway, and on the film “1408” (2007), playing Katie. She won Young Artist Awards for the performances. She netted an additional Young Artist Award for her guest appearance in the American version of “Ugly Betty” (2007). More recently, the California native actress who made her professional acting debut in Steven Spielberg's “Catch Me If You Can” (2002) gained attention for her portrayal of Lily in the 2009 short “Water Pills,” from which she nabbed a Young Artist nomination and two Florida Film Festival Awards.

An animal lover, Anthony has a mini horse named Starman, chickens, 2 llamas, Bengal cats, dogs, parrots goats and an emu named Ruby. She is a strict vegetarian. She is good friends with Darcy Rose Byrnes, Keaton Tyndall, Kylie Tyndall, Rachel Rogers, Frankie Ryan Manriquez and Scout Taylor-Compton.

Jas

Childhood and Family:

Jasmine Jessica Anthony, nicknamed Jas, was born on October 28, 1996, in Tarzana, California. Her father, Art Anthony, is a makeup artists and former theater actor in Chicago, while her mother was an actress during her life in Chicago. She initiated stage dancing at age 2 and declared her intention to become an actress when she was three. She then trained under Stanzi Stokes at Dee Wallace Stones Studio and soon landed her first agent.

Commander in Chief

Career:

Jasmine Jessica Anthony had her first taste in front of the film cameras at age 6 when she was cast as Leonardo DiCaprio's sister in “Catch Me If You Can” (2002), a biographical comedy/drama based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Louisiana parish prosecutor, and a Georgia doctor. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film was a critical and commercial success. It received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christopher Walken) and Best Music, Original Score (John Williams), in addition to many awards and other nominations. The film made a total of $352,114,312 worldwide against a budget of $52 million.

After appearing in national commercials for “JC Penneys” and “Microsoft,” Anthony appeared as Tammy in a stage production of “Lysatrata” at Theatricum (2003) and as Mamillius in “Winters Tale” (2004), helmed by Ellen Geer. She went on to act in the plays “Christmas Carol” (2005) and “Bye Bye Birdie” (2006), opposite Rachel Rogers, Andrew H. Rogers, Keaton Tyndall and Kylie Tyndall.

Anthony returned to feature films when she starred alongside Mark Weilerand Tanya Veit in the fantasy movie “Dream Sketches” (2004), which was directed and written by Arnaud Paris. The same year, she also appeared as Young Sophie in “Stop Thief!”, a 9 minute short/comedy film by Soseh Kevorkian. The film was shown at several festivals such as the 2004 Hollywood HypeFest, the 2004 Oakland International Film Festival, the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival and the 2005 Santa Cruz Film Festival.

In 2005, Anthony had an uncredited part as Young Flo Applebaum in “Checking Out,” a comedy film directed by Jeff Hare and written by Richard Marcus and Allen Swift. Starring Peter Falk, Laura San Giacomo, Judge Reinhold and David Paymer, the film earned mostly fair reviews upon its release. It won the Best Actress and Best Director Awards at the 2005 Palm Beach International Film Festival, Copper Wing Awards for Best Picture and Best Best Screenplay at the 2005 Phoenix Film Festival and Platinum Award for Independent Theatrical Feature Films & Videos - Comedy Lane, Mark at the 2005 WorldFest Houston. She portrayed Katie Kinney in the independent film “Little Athens” (2005), which was directed by Tom Zuber and starred John Patrick Amedori, Erica Leerhsen, DJ Qualls, Rachel Miner, Eric Szmanda and Michael Pena, among other actors. The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2005 and released on DVD later on November 21, 2006.

Still in 2005, Anthony appeared as Talla in an episode of UPN's “Star Trek: Enterprise” called “These Are the Voyages...” and was featured as watch girl in an episode of the Tony Shalhoub mystery series “Monk” named “Mr. Monk Goes Home Again.” However, the actress did not gain attention until she won the main role of Mac and Rod's six year old daughter, Amy Calloway, on the ABC political drama series “Commander in Chief” (September 2005-June 2006). Created by director Rod Lurie, the show was No. 1 on Tuesday nights until FOX's “American Idol” took this honor and was also the No. 1 new show of the season until CBS's “Criminal Minds” surpassed it before suffering declining ratings that eventually led to its cancellation. For her bright acting, Anthony was handed a 2006 Young Artist for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Young Actress Age Ten or Younger.

Following the cancellation of “Commander in Chief,” Anthony made guest appearances in television shows such as “Medium” (2007), “My Name Is Earl” (2007) and “State of Mind” (2007, as Ella). She also appeared as Antonella in an episode of “Ugly Betty” called “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (2007) and won a 2008 Young Artist for Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress for her performance. She would reprise the role in a 2008 episode titled “The Kids Are Alright.” Meanwhile, on the big screen, Anthony worked with Rachel Hunter, June Squibb, Robert Pine, Tippi Hedren, Jonathan Breck, Kala Savage, Kali Rocha, Mary Chris Wall, Nick Stabile and Jamey Geston in the mystery/thriller movie “Dead Write” (2007), which was helmed by Michael Connell and written by A.W. Gryphon, and starred as Samantha in the Jeremy Dylan Lanni award winning short “Under There” (2007). The same year, she also memorably played the daughter of John Cusack, Katie, in the psychological horror film “1408,” which is based on the Stephen King short story of the same name. Directed by Swedish director Mikael Håfström, the film received generally positive reviews upon its release and was a big financial success. Anthony won a 2008 Young Artist in the category of Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress for her work in the film.

2009 saw Anthony star in the short films “Believe It,” by Tatiana Krokar, and “Water Pills,” by Blake Soper. For her fine turn as Lily in the latter, she picked up the Grand Jury Award for Best Performance and Special Jury Award for Outstanding Performance – Female at the 2009 Florida Film Festival and a 2009 Young Artist nomination for Best Performance in a Short Film - Young Actress.

In 2010, Anthony played Deborah in the 5 minute comedy film “ A Reuben by Any Other Name,” which reunited her with filmmaker Jeremy Dylan Lanni.

Anthony has completed filming a supporting role in a 30 minute short film called “Hip-Hop Headstrong.” She will play Young Dorothy in the upcoming thriller movie “The Butterfly Room,” directed by Jonathan Zarantonello, who also adapted the screenplay from his own novel, “Alice dalle 4 alle 5.” The film will star Barbara Steele, Ray Wise, Erica Leerhsen, Heather Langenkamp, Ellery Sprayberry, Julia Putnam and others.

Awards:

• Florida Film Festival: Grand Jury Award, Best Performance, “Water Pills,” 2009

• Florida Film Festival: Special Jury Award, Outstanding Performance – Female, “Water Pills,” 2009

• Young Artist: Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress, “1408,” 2008

• Young Artist: Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress, “Ugly Betty,” 2008 (For episode “Something Wicked This Way Comes”)

• Young Artist: Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Young Actress Age Ten or Younger, “Commander in Chief,” 2006