Najarra Townsend

Tru

Dedicated to acting as a craft, driven by a passion for artistry, Najarra Townsend is on a career path that couldn’t be further from Hollywood starlets that are the stuff of tawdry tabloids. Natural, gifted and most of all, very real, Najarra aspires to greatness on film, the stage or in the recording studio.

This young woman from Southern California is making her mark with every challenge and will soon be seen in a number of fall releases, including a lead role in Strange Angel, which will premiere at the Ojai Film Festival in October, 2007; she’ll star in this fall’s family drama Dawning, and can currently be seen in Have Love Will Travel for which she contributed a song to the soundtrack.

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Najarra was a child model as a toddler, also performing on stage in local productions, and before her teens was earning acclaim for a sophistication beyond her years. At ten, she made her big screen debut in the suspense/horror film Menace followed by other movies, including the probing drama Cut.

In her early teens, Najarra appeared in various stage productions as well, from musicals to dramas while studying with the LA Talent Academy at the Musicians Institute, performing with LA Hip Kids production company and also pursuing her musical heart with her own group, Flavor.

Najarra’s performance in the Sundance and Cannes-winning Me and You and Everyone We Know in 2005 drew notices nationwide. LA Weekly named her role as one of the Top 10 Great Small Performances for “frankness, innocence, snarky humor, vulnerability and girl-power defiance.”

Najarra has also appeared in many notable short films, including Secrets, which recently won best drama at the Hollywood Digital Film Festival and Antonio Rivero’s Electronica, a winner at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Upcoming projects for Najarra include lead roles in the mystical adventure Dreams Awake, the stark social commentary of Life Without a Modem and the ensemble piece President’s Hotel. She recently wrapped the thriller Darkness Visible opposite Sean Young, and is looking ahead to 2008.