Sirena Irwin(I)

Sirena grew up around the U.S. and abroad as her mother, Margaret Irwin-Brandon, is a harpsichordist and conductor of a Baroque Orchestra. and her father, John Irwin, is a physicist (with a significant stint as a dropped out hippie)- landing ultimately at Stanford University. The two were divorced early in Sirena's life and she spent time between the two. After time spent at Northfield Mt. Hermon boarding school where she fell in love with theater, she attended San Francisco State University and graduated with degrees in Theater and International Relations. After a successful stint in a popular San Francisco sketch comedy group, she landed in Los Angeles where her knack for voices and accents were quickly put to use in the world of animation voice over. She originated the role of Lucy in "I Love Lucy® Live On Stage" for which she received Chicago's Broadway World Award for "Best Actress in a Touring Production" and many other awards. The Los Angeles Times called her performance "pitch perfect," and Huffington Post called her Lucy a "force of nature." She was with the show for four years which included sold-out runs in Los Angeles and Chicago and the subsequent successful 2013-2014 National Tour. Other stage work includes San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, John Patrick Shanley's Where's My Money (West Coast Premiere), Peter Hedges' Imagining Brad, and other Hollywood theatre productions like the infamous Bob's Holiday Office Party. She was also the front woman for San Francisco's famed Seemen, a pyro-technics robotics group that was an off-shoot of SRL (Survival Research Laboratories). Sirena has written, directed and produced multiple short films that have been broadcast and distributed internationally. Her first short, "Whacked" enjoyed the festival circuit and was then picked up for distribution by Hypnotic Films where they were able to place it on HBO Latin America, CBC, and others. It was also included in a DVD compilation of shorts, "Look In My Shorts." Her short film, Argentoesque, made as an homage to Dario Argento, was awarded at the Made In Italy Film Festival in Castel Di Sangro. Her short "Il Controllore" (The Ticket Taker") showed at the "Salon de Refusee" at the Milano Film Festival. Because of her extensive interest in tools and building, she hosted the History Channel's "Toolbox" and co-created and wrote the pilot for a show for HGTV, "Do-It-Herself," hosted by 2 handywomen. She has also created and produced numerous spec pilots including "Butter Face," starring Fortune Feimster, which can be found on Funny or Die and Vimeo. In 2015, Sirena directed a play ,"The Exit Interview," written by William Missouri Downs, for Los Angeles' Buzzworks Theater Co. and in 2018 she directed for them again, this time the comedy "Sex" by Mae West. In the fall of 2017 she began her new career of voice directing after having been mentored by the famed animation director, Andrea Romano.