BIO...
Ginny Leise is a filmmaker, comedian and actor in New York City.
As a filmmaker… Ginny has written and produced two short films and two full length comedy pilots. Her first short, Pillows, won the Indieworks Best of Fest award in November 2015. Splitsider said of her second short, Smile, “...watch and be wowed.” Smile was a 2017 Official Selection at the Lower East Side Film Festival. In 2018, Ginny directed and produced the comedy pilot Vows.
As a comedian… Ginny has written and produced content galore for the stage and internet with her comedy duo SJ&Ginny. They have produced four web series, a sell out variety show and a full length comedy pilot.
After running their variety show The Shame Game for a year, SJ and Ginny turned their focus to producing scripted and long form content. Their first web series racked up more than 2 million views on YouTube. Next up, they released the series HOG: Hearts of Gold in 2015. Brokelyn praised their “very admirable weirdness.” Splitsider described their web series 2016 Feminist Babysitter as ‘impressive, and noteworthy.” In 2017, Ginny made her directorial debut with the series Quiet Tiny Asian which racked up 150,000 views on YouTube.
In their most ambitious project to date, SJ and Ginny wrote and produced the 30 minute comedy pilot Urban Teach Now. The pilot became a 2016 Official Selection at the New York Television Festival, iTVFest and a third round finalist for the Sundance Episodic Story Lab in 2017.
As an actor… in addition to acting in all of the projects above, Ginny has appeared in commercials for Geico, Tide, Fresh Kick and one multinational brand that made her sign so many NDAs she is scared to talk about it. Her TV credits include MTV International’s Bugging Out and The Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum. She frequently appears in sketch videos and short films.
Ginny studied theater and on camera acting at the Atlantic Acting School, MN Acting Studio and The Barrow Group. She studied improv and comedy at UCB, the PIT, the Magnet and the Annoyance.
Born and raised in New Jersey mere minutes from the Cherry Hill Mall, Ginny spent her childhood trying and failing to get the family’s pet cat to hang out with her. Once, while proving to a neighbor boy she was faster than him, she ran full speed into a parked car. She lost two front teeth and won the race. After graduating from Colorado College with a B.A. in History & Philosophy, Ginny took the next logical step and moved to New York City to pursue comedy and acting.
