Justine Priestley(I)
- Actress
Growing up in Canada in the 1980s, Justine Priestley and her brother, Jason Priestley, were both
bitten by the acting bug at an early age, appearing in numerous
commercials, plays and TV shows. Upon graduation from high school,
Justine left her ninth-grade Best Actress Award on the mantel and
headed to Europe, enrolling in the school of Traveling-With-a-Backpack.
Thirty-eight countries (including 18 in Europe, 16 in Africa, and 4
in South America) and a few years later, those thespian passions
returned. She found herself with a London agent and a role in a West
End production. When
Beverly Hills (1990)
exploded into the world consciousness and
Jason Priestley became part of pop
culture, Justine was already back in Vancouver. While studying her
craft, she was busy booking spots on such TV shows as
Highlander (1992) and
Tarzán (1991) and a movie of the week,
La remplaçante (1993)
with Mark Wahlberg. She also
appeared in Killer (1994) with
Anthony LaPaglia and
Mimi Rogers. When the time felt right
Justine made the trek to Hollywood and quickly obtained a recurring
role on the hit TV series
Melrose Place (1992), which
garnered her much attention. Closely following was her star turn in the
festival hit Color Me Dead (1969).
Justine landed a supporting role in
Baggage (2003), starring
M. Emmet Walsh, and a lead role in the
ensemble film
Bottom Feeders (1997). Another
supporting role came in Miasma (1999)
starring Corbin Bernsen. A TV sitcom,
Movie Stars (1999) with
Harry Hamlin and
Jennifer Grant, followed, in
which Justine had the rare pleasure of playing herself. Then more TV,
shot in her hometown of Vancouver:
Welcome to Paradox (1998)
for the Sci-Fi Channel. Soon enough came more feature films:
Up Against Amanda (2000), with
Daniel Roebuck;
G.O.D. (2001), co-starring
David Carradine and
Olivier Gruner; and
Rage of the Innocents (2001),
with Kira Reed, shot entirely in
Prague, Czech Republic. Justine really enjoyed shooting an internet
series pilot called D-Girls, billed as a kind of
Sex and the City (1998) set
in Los Angeles. She made another horror movie,
A Crack in the Floor (2001),
co-starring Gary Busey,
Mario Lopez and
Bentley Mitchum; then a USA Network
movie of the week, titled
La justice d'une mère (2001)
starring Kate Jackson. Justine also
had fun playing a cheerleader on an episode of the Fox spoof
Grosse Pointe (2000), directed
by her brother. In 2001 Justine traveled to Houston, Texas, to appear
as Princess Chastity in the stage farce "Dragon Domestic", and Alais,
the Princess of France, in the beloved play "The Lion in Winter".
Justine also had the honor of working at Houston's Tony Award-winning
Alley Theatre where she played Candy Starr in "One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest". She followed her Alley experience with the lead role in
an indie feature entitled
In the Moment (2003), for which she
dyed her long hair dark brown. Having thus conquered Texas, and newly
blond again, Justine set sails for New York City. The Big Apple saw Justine booked as a guest on
Howard Stern (1994) and on
Naked New York with Bob Berkowitz (2002)
twice. She did a sexy layout in "Stun" Magazine, and
she is happy to have worked on two more indies: the hilarious short
film "Cleanx3" and
Planet Earth: Dreams (2004)
written by Richard Foreman.
Justine has also enjoyed a second career as a much-in-demand TV host, having
completed four seasons as the U.S. correspondent on the Canadian
magazine show Metro Cafe (1994)
and a brief stint on "Movie Mondo". Justine was seen every day for years
in casinos across the country on Players Network, and had
the time of her life judging "Gentleman's Club Championship II", with co-host Chaunce Hayden, a
pay-per-view program billed as
"American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002)
for strippers"!
