About Me
Hello! My name is Irene Denniston, and I'm a 22-year-old stage and film actress who has been irreparably and irrationally drawn to acting since before I could even read. I was born in the Palisades in DC and grew up in Silver Spring, MD, taking acting and dance classes and performing in several plays a year. I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Dramatic Art in May 2025, where I took studio actor training alongside theatrical history and production/design classes, and acted in nine plays and seven short films. Most recently, I decided to further my classical training at Shakespeare & Company's Center for Actor Training in the Berkshires, MA. I love how connected being an actor makes me feel to other people; it requires you to study and observe the human experience, to listen to everyone’s lives around you, and to bond with an audience through your shared humanness.
Details
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 113
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Lt Brown
Voice: Mezzo Soprano
Education:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
BA Dramatic Art, 2025
Alpha Psi Omega
National Theatre Honor Society, 2025
Shakespeare & Company
Lenox, MA
Summer Shakespeare Intensive, 2025
Skills:
unarmed, knife, single sword
Lecoq clown training,
movement (viewpoints, Laban),
dance (contemporary, jazz),
singing (mezzo soprano).
Shakespeare, Chekhov.
Location: Washington DC
Awards
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMAMATIC PLAY
Jack/Lord of The Flies/ Company Carolina/UNC Alpha Psi Omega
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lilly/MOTH/Carolina Film Association
SENIOR PERFORMING ARTS AWARD
Sandy Spring Friends School
Reviews
"Denniston displays some of the chaos energy…her precision with both timing and changing moods makes her the most powerful force on stage. Her eruption into the home while recounting the news about Tillie’s making the science fair finals is particularly joyful and affecting."
-C. Swanson, The Beltway Blackbox
Stage
Silver Spring Stage | The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man In The Moon Marigolds | 2026
Ruth
Company Carolina | Hamlet | 2025
Polonius
NOMINATED: UNC APO Best Featured Actor in a Comedic Play
Company Carolina | 1984 | 2024
The Guard
NOMINATED: UNC APO Best Ensemble Actor in a Dramatic Play
Kenan Theatre Company | Failure: A Love Story | 2024
Jenny June Fail
NOMINATED: UNC APO Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Play
Kenan Theatre Company | The Seagull | 2024
Paulina
NOMINATED: UNC APO Best Featured Actor in a Dramatic Play
Company Carolina | Lord of the Flies | 2023
Jack Merridew
WON: UNC APO Best Lead Actor in a Dramatic Play
Company Carolina | Julius Caesar | 2023
Soothsayer
LAB! Theatre | The Most Massive Woman Wins! | 2022
Cel
LAB! Theatre | A Dawn Chorus | 2022
Chorus
Kenan Theatre Company | Anna K | 2021
Kitty
Sandy Spring Friends School | Radium Girls | 2019
Grace Fryer
Sandy Spring Friends School | Matilda | 2019
Big Kid/Dance Captain
Film
Carolina Film Association | Spaghetti and Me | 2025
Lead
NOMINATED: CFA Best Lead Actress
Carolina Film Association | We Will Decompose | 2025
Lead
Carolina Film Associaton | Bloodsucker | 2025
Lead
Carolina Film Associaton | Dead Guy | 2024
Lead
COMM 230 | Knock, Knock | 2023
Lead
Carolina Film Association | Moth | 2023
Supporting
WON: CFA Best Supporting Actress
COMM 337 | Up and Apart| 2022
Lead