Sarah-Jane Redmond

Sarah-Jane Redmond is the Canadian actor who portrays Anastasia's Mother on ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

Biography

Sarah-Jane Redmond was born in Cyprus, where her father was stationed during his career with the Royal Air Force. Her family moved to the Lake District in England, before immigrating to Canada. She studied acting both in Canada and England, before founding an amateur theater company, Holy Barbarians, in order to pursue stage work. Part of Redmond's study took place at the acting school of Canadian actor William B. Davis. During this time, she also worked as a dancer in Toronto.

Redmond's first screen role was in an episode of The X-Files; this introduced her to director David Nutter and writer Chris Carter, who would later cast her in a recurring role in the series Millennium as well as the 2008 film The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Her other television roles focus on science-fiction programming, with appearances in Harsh Realm, Andromeda, Dark Angel, The Outer Limits and Smallville.

Redmond's feature film appearances include 2002's Hellraiser: Hellseeker; she auditioned for this role using bondage artwork by Eric Stanton instead of a standard actor's headshot. Other film roles include The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Case 39, The Invitation, and The Entrance. The latter film earned Redmond a Leo Award nomination in 2007 for Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama; she went on to lose the award to Alexia Fast for Past Tense.

Redmond also taught acting at the New Image College of Fine Arts in Vancouver, British Columbia. During her time with the faculty, she directed the college's 2011 production of the Stephen Adly Guirgis play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, alongside fellow actor Frank Cassini.

Redmond is a boxing and martial arts enthusiast, and has participated in charity walks for the British Columbia Cancer Foundation. She has a son, Lucas Noon-Redmond, who was born in October 2007.

Trivia

Acts opposite Once Upon a Time guest star David Anders on the iZombie episodes "Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?", "Liv and Let Clive" and "Virtual Reality Bites", where Redmond plays Jackie, a woman turned into a zombie after a one-night stand with Anders' character Blaine DeBeers. She also shares scenes with Once Upon a Time in Wonderland guest star Ben Cotton in "Liv and Let Clive".
Acts opposite Once Upon a Time guest stars Andrew Jenkins and David Cubitt on Freeform's Siren. Redmond plays Elaine Pownall, while Cubitt and Jenkins play her husband and son, respectively.