Valéry Lessard

Valery Lessard was born in Montreal, Québec. She showed interest in the arts from a young age, starting dance classes at age 3 and singing lessons at age 10. Not to mention a brief (4 year) stint in piano lessons. She started performing in theater troups in elementary school, then continued active participation in improv acting groups in high school. During CEGEP, she got into her theater/arts and literature program of choice at Brébeuf college. During that time, she also began shopping for modeling/talent agencies, eventually deciding on Scoop Agency. From there, she was referred to Jacqueline McClintock's classes for Meisner Technique, a by-referral-only program for Montreal actors. There, she got to meet and work with some of her talented peers like Meaghan Rath, Brittany Drisdelle and Jordan Officer to name a few.

In her final year of CEGEP, she took private lessons with Québec acting star Rita Lafontaine.

After finishing school in Montreal, Valery wanted to pursue her acting studies further. At her teacher's suggestion, she decided to move to New York to attend the Neighbourhood Playhouse 2-year professional training program. There, she was acting taught by Ron Stenson (protegé of Stanford Meisner himself), Richard Pinter and Gary Kingston. She also got to work on her singing with Ron Shetler, her dancing with Christine Dakin (protegé of Martha Graham), her English diction with Gary Ramsey and Kathleen Kelly, and her stage fighting with Rick Sordelet.