Biography for
Tanya Allen (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

Mini Biography

Tanya Allen was born in Toronto in 1975. She developed a love of acting young and at fifteen attended the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She launched her professional acting career in her late teens, and spent several years guest-starring on such series as "the Outer Limits" and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" before landing leading roles roles in several TV movies. She received Gemini Award nominations (the Canadian equivalent of the Emmys) for playing both period heroine Del Jordan in the adaptation of Alice Monroe's Lives of Girls & Women (1994) (TV) and punky rock singer Astrid Kirsh in Bruce Macdonald's Platinum (1997) (TV). Her career then headed to England when she landed the title role in the CBC/BBC historical drama Lyddie (1996) (TV), followed by a lead in the CBC comedy "Newsroom, The" (1996). Her critically acclaimed performance as the rebelliously intelligent intern Audrey in the hit series won her a Gemini Award. Later that year, she traveled to Scotland to film the British-Canadian Second World War drama Regeneration (1997). Over the next five years, Tanya lived in New York and acted almost exclusively in independent films such as Clutch with Tom Green, Wish You Were Dead ( playing Mary Steenburgen's coked-up daughter) and Fancy Dancing with Dave Foley and Jason Priestly. She jumped back into television for the British-Canadian science fiction series"Starhunter" (2001)_ . Her role as the emotionally stunted but brilliant 'space waif', Percy Montana, made her a firm favorite with SF fans all over the world.

Trivia

Bilingual in French and English.

Owns a dog, a Shepherd mutt Buddy.

Has been nominated for a Gemini award three times, and won once.

Personal Quotes

On fame: "I think I went insane. I was ridiculously paranoid because I had the most insufferably frustrating level of celebrity. It wasn't at all anything I could get sympathy for. I wasn't Kate Winslet. I was just a little TV girl but I felt people were staring at me. In Toronto, people would literally hit me and tell me to get them a muffin, and laugh". [This refers to the success she found on the TV show "The Newsroom" (1996), where her character's boss was always sending her to find the right kind of muffin.]

On acting: "Oh, I get it, I'm a loser. I take my clothes off and cry in front of all my enemies."

On doing independent films: "I don't want to have anybody watch me. Sure I won't get rich, but no one will see the movies either. I'll have fun with none of the pressure."

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