Patrice Johnson(I)
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Patrice Johnson Chevannes, is an award winning, actress, writer, director and producer who was born in Jamaica and raised in New York City along with her eight brothers and sisters. She started her undergraduate career at Cornell University, where she discovered that acting and not aerospace engineering was her calling. Leaving Cornell, she completed her Bachelors in Performing Arts at The City College of New York. She has done numerous plays on and off the Broadway Stage, where she has shared the stage with acclaimed actors such as Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, in The Crucible. Patrice played Desdemona, to Sir Patrick Stewart's Othello, in what is historically called a photo negative production of Shakespeare's Othello. She has worked with Sir Richard Eyre, Jude Kelly, Sir Michael Boyd, Sir Trevor Nunn, Peter Sellars and many other amazing directors.
In 2002, Patrice became passionate about hearing the Caribbean accent on film. She longed to see and hear the people she had grown up around and not simply caricatures of Caribbean people. Patrice and her siblings formed the production company, God and all o wee Productions, which means God and all of us. They also formed a music company called Ubigwitus Inc. This means, You big with us. Both Jamaican Patois. That summer they shot their first feature.
Patrice has written, directed and produced three award winning feature films through God and all o wee Productions in collaboration with Ubigwitus Inc. Their first feature, Kings County, debuted at the 2003 Urban World Film Festival. Their second film, NY's Dirty Laundry, was invited to the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and their third, Hill and Gully, has won numerous awards, including, Best Feature Film at the Caribbean Lens Film Festival in Los Angeles. All three films are set in New York and speak to her Caribbean - American upbringing. Patrice is represented by Abrams Artists, NY.