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artistic director.
founder.
production designer.
"Pour ce qui est de l'avenir, il ne s'agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible." For the future, it is not a matter of predicting it, but of making it possible. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Sophie Ann Rooney is an award-winning director, production designer, and multidisciplinary artist whose work has shaped independent theatre in Toronto across more than 40 productions. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of The King Black Box, where she steers the company's commitment to bold, design-led, socially urgent new work, frequently serving as director, production designer, and producer simultaneously.
At The King Black Box, Rooney has built one of Toronto's committed repertoires of producing new Canadian work. She produced and designed the world premiere of Girls Unwanted by George F. Walker, and directed and designed Romeo Pimp, a commissioned world premiere by Jesse McQueen. As production designer, her work spans the full breadth of the company's canon, from Tracy Letts' Bug and Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living to Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Her record of premiering Canadian work reaches back through two companies she founded. At Sterling Studio Theatre and The Theatre Machine, Rooney produced world premieres of The Atomic Tradition (Istvan Dugalin), You Said Love (Noah Davis), The Foursome (Jane Ford), Red Bill (Michael Eisner) and brought Diane Flacks' By a Thread to Toronto audiences in a subsequent revival. Across these companies she directed and designed productions of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Beggars in the House of Plenty and Lonely Impulse of Delight (John Patrick Shanley), Burn This (Lanford Wilson), Ravenscroft (Don Nigro), and Interior: Panic (Tennessee Williams), building a body of work that moves fluently between classical texts, dramatic canon, and the development of new Canadian plays.
As a performer working across English and French, Rooney has appeared on international stages, including the Paris premiere of The Glory of Living (Rebecca Gilman) at Théâtre Les Voûtes Paris 13, and Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound at Théâtre Alexandre Dumas in St Germain en Laye.
The King Black Box received significant national recognition in 2025. The company was cited by Ilana Lucas in BroadwayWorld's Top Toronto Theatre of 2025. Bug was named one of Glenn Sumi's Top 10 Toronto Theatre Productions of 2025, and Nicholas Eddie's performance in Bug placed among Sumi's Top 10 Toronto Theatre Artists of 2025.
[she/her/elle] story
Sophie Ann Rooney
Critics have responded to her work with consistent recognition:
"Ultimately, that much of it works so well is because of Sophie Ann Rooney's exquisitely detailed production designs, which extend into the audience, making us feel as if we are inside this rooming house." Joshua Chong, The Toronto Star (Rating: ✭✭✭½)
"I have great respect for Rooney, King Black Box and the substantive plays that they mount in their third-floor aerie. Those three flights of stairs can lead to outstanding theatrical experiences." Paula Citron
"Rooney's choice to underscore a tense confrontation with 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (as The Wizard of Oz plays in the background) is uncanny and truly inspired." Istvan Dugalin
"Wonderfully designed by Sophie Ann Rooney who also directs, and she is masterful as a director." Lynn Slotkin
"You know that a play and production are powerful when you realize you’ll probably never be able to walk through a neighbourhood again without thinking about its characters." Glenn Sumi (Rating: ✭✭✭✭)
Born and raised in France, Sophie Ann Rooney holds dual French and British citizenship, resides in Toronto as a Canadian permanent resident, and is bilingual in English and French.
Rooney's practice extends well beyond the stage. In film, her short Fallen Fighter earned the Kodak Award for Best Picture and Best Director, screened at over 20 international festivals including the Academy Award-contending Chicago International Children's Film Festival and the Whistler International Film Festival, and was formally adopted into the Chicago public school curriculum. In the interactive space, she served as Director and Voice Director on Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec), which received a BAFTA nomination for Best Performance and The Game Awards 2018 Game of the Year, among 41 additional awards. She directed the subsequent DLC titles Legacy of the First Blade and The Fate of Atlantis, and continues to consult on undisclosed titles set for 2026 release. Her voice directing for animation includes Daniel Spellbound for Netflix and Boat Rocker. Most recently, she has worked internationally as a Dubbing Director for Netflix, directing English-language adaptations across multiple series including Unfamiliar, The Greatest Mother in the World, Sicily Express, and The Land of Sin.
As an educator, she is the Founder and Director of RAW Actor Studio, active since 2008, and has served as an appointed mentor for filmmakers through both the Ontario Arts Council and the New Brunswick Arts Board.
She trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the Oxford School of Drama on merit scholarships. She later attended EICAR International Film School in Paris, and studied with Larry Moss, Valerie Landsburg, and completed the three-year Stanislavski program at L'Atelier de Blanche Salant et Paul Weaver. A longtime protégé of Amy Werba (Strasberg and Winters lineage), she is featured prominently in Werba's Be Your Own Coach, published by The Drama Book Shop in New York.
A recipient of the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award with arts distinction, she began her leadership journey by founding INSEINE CRU at The British School of Paris in response to the defunding of all school theatre programming. She independently raised the funding to produce multiple shows, culminating in a 500-seat production in her graduating year. The student-led drama company continues to operate at the school today, passed down from student to student across successive graduating classes.
Her early career included collaborations as a session singer with Barclay-Music, and producer Ross Robinson (Korn) and Team Nowhere's rap-metal group Enhancer "Electrochoc" Album for their Limp Bizkit tour, Formerly served as Performance Director for the Moulin Rouge working with it's premiere dancers, and Assistant Professor at The American University of Paris (Werba Apprentice).
She is an ACTRA & TAPA member represented as an actor by Murray Gibson at RED Management and as a director and producer by Ryan Goldhar at The Characters Talent Agency.
And a devoted mother to her sons JJ and Maxwell.