Los Angeles, CA
Actor, Speaker-Storyteller, Artist Educator, Disability Inclusion Artivist
Topics
I use the transformational power of the performance and the expressive arts to eradicate disability stigmas, othering and limiting beliefs.
Diana Elizabeth Jordan
Things I can’t live without: Kindness, Laughter, Gratitude
Describe yourself in one word: FLAWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One thing you would like to check off your bucket list? Do A Show on Or Off Broadway
Things I love: My family , Being An Aunt, Being A Multi-passionate artist, living my dreams, my friends
Whether Diana is portraying a character, sharing one of her personal stories or facilitating one of her custom designed expressive arts workshops; she touches the hearts of audiences with her humor, creativity, vulnerability, and honesty.
Diana Elizabeth Jordan , has literally been cultivating resiliency since the day she was born when her doctors’ had to work on her for 45 minutes before she started breathing on her own. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy (which mildly affects her speech and gait) around age two, Diana grew up determined not to let adversity stop her from pursuing her dream of being an actor.
Diana has realized that dream and has been cast in theater, film and television and was most recently seen on CBS’s hit show S.W.A.T. Since the beginning of her career Diana has refused to be limited to only being cast in disability specific roles but also cast in roles where her disability is incidental to the character or storyline. Diana is a member of SAG-AFTRA and The Actors Equity Association. She was the first actor with a disability to obtain a Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from California State University Long Beach (2001). She was the recipient of the 2016 Best Actor Honor for The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and is one of the featured artists in Liliana Moldovan’s book Eroii Imposibilului, a book featuring multi-disciplined artists with disabilities from around the world. She is an award winning actor and award nominated director and a producer.
The self-proclaimed Expressive Arts Passionista, combined her passions as an Actor, Speaker-Storyteller, Artist Educator and Disability Inclusion Artivist with her passion for the power of the performance and the expressive arts to be utilized as a life-long learning tool to encourage personal growth, professional development and as an agent social change, when she launched her EduTainment production company The Rainbow Butterfly Café in 2015. The R.B.C combines the power of performances, speaking and custom designed expressive arts based workshops to celebrate diversity and disability inclusion, cultivating resiliency, goal setting and visioning. She also offers a re-imagined approach to the traditional keynote address for conferences, retreats and special events through performing her one woman shows Watch Your Head (written by Lynda Rodriquez) Climbing The Chrystal Staircase; Reflections of Hope, Faith And Resiliency, A Concert Of Stories Poems and Monologues.
Diana has been invited to perform/speak and facilitate workshops for colleges/universities, special events and conferences and has also been a featured guest on podcasts and diversity and disability inclusion panel . She serves on SAG-AFTRA’s National Performers With Disabilities Committee, is an alternate to SAG-AFTRA’s National Equal Opportunities Committee, a Hollywood Ambassador for the Divas with Disabilities and a two time Ambassador for The World Institute on Disability. Whether Diana is portraying a character, sharing one of her personal stories or facilitating one of her custom designed expressive arts workshops; she touches the hearts of audiences with her humor, creativity, vulnerability, and honesty. Diana is living her possible dreams and loving it.
ONE PERSON SHOWS CELEBRATING RESILIENCY THROUGH THE POWER OF PERFORMANCE WATCH YOUR HEAD – Diana Elizabeth Jordan portrays ”Actress” in this signature solo piece written by (Lynda Rodriquez (www.ellesviews.com) and directed by Paul Kampf- , a one woman show about an actress’s hilarious and heartbreaking journey of Re-Discovery and Self-Acceptance following a brain hemorrhage.
CLIMBING THE CHRYSTAL STAIRCASE A CONCERT OF SPOKEN WORDS (Celebrating Resiliency Through Poetry, Monologues &&Stories ) Combining a compellation of monologues, poetry and personal stories, Diana celebrates resiliency, triumphing over adversity and the power of the human spirit we face our fears, feel our fears, accept our disappointments, take a deep breath and move forward anyway. The Performances can be followed by a Q&A with Diana Elizabeth Jordan where she shares her personal journey of cultivating resiliency and her signature “10 Tools To Consider When Cultivating Resiliency” which are included a chapter in the new book Healing Our Sisters by Janine Conway. Ms. Jordan is a contributing writer for the book.
ADVENTURES ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED BY A JOURNEY IN PROGRESS-( A Conversation With Diana Elizabeth Jordan) Presented in an interview style format with a selected on site or event moderator/ host, Diana shares with audiences the triumphs and challenges of her personal and professional journeys (ranging from the joys and challenges of pursuing her acting career, to being mainstreamed, to her commitment to activism and the joy of walking on red carpets) and how she continues to create her own paths to make her dreams come true..
DIVERSITY AND DISABILITY INCLUSION EXPRESSIVE ARTS WORKSHOPS NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US An interactive performance lecture workshop, incorporating improvisation and expressive arts exercises to experientially examine The Disability Civil Rights Movement, disability arts and culture, disability stigmas, attitudinal barriers, media impact, and the intersections of disability and inclusive multicultural diversity. The workshop is named in honor of a book written by Jim Charlton, one of Diana Elizabeth Jordan’s first disability activist mentors. .
OVERCOMING STIGMAS: An interactive workshop incorporating THE WINDMILLS CHANGING THE PERCEPTION OF ABILITY : A DISABILITY INCLUSION PROGRAM CURRICULUM (developed by The California’s Governor’s Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities and Milt Wright & As&ociates) – An employer-employee training tool that focuses on attitudinal barriers , changing new perspectives toward employees with disabilities while addressing concerns, including, legal requirements and accommodations The training modules which include interactive exercises and group discussions can be custom designed to meet the individual needs and goals of corporations , universities( colleges) schools and organizations. Diana Elizabeth Jordan is a certified Windmills Trainer.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & PER&ONAL GROWTH EXPRESSIVE ARTS WORKSHOPS 11 Strategies To Consider When Launching A Brand New Dream During this interactive workshop, Diana shares 11 powerful strategies to support goal setting and the launch of a new dream combined with the sharing of her personal stories, performance and expressive arts activities.
ROAD BLOCKS, TRAFFIC JAMS, AND ANNOYING POTHOLES: 10 TOOLS TO CONSIDER WHEN LIFE TAKES AN UNEXPECTED DETOUR – Combining her unique blend of compassion, humor and honesty, Diana shares 10 powerful tools cultivating resiliency and coping with/triumphing over adversity through powerful performances, her personal stories and expressive arts strategies and exercises.
COFFEE BREAK MAHEIM-An interactive workshop using improvisation exercises, theater games, and play. No acting experience necessary. A unique and fun approach to support collaboration, communication skills, listening, self-expression, stress reduction and team building skills.