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Sophie Ann Rooney
artistic director.
founder.
production designer.
[she/her/elle]
"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, designer, and multidisciplinary artist. Across more than 40 productions she has helped shape independent theatre in Toronto. As Artistic Director and Founder of The King Black Box, she leads the company's commitment to bold, design-led, socially urgent new work. Frequently taking on the roles of director, designer, and producer within the same production.
At The King Black Box
She has built a repertoire that puts new Canadian plays alongside the contemporary canon. She produced and designed the world premiere of George F. Walker's Girls Unwanted, and directed and designed Romeo Pimp, a commissioned world premiere by Jesse McQueen. Her production design spans the full breadth of the company's work, from Tracy Letts' Bug and Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living to Shakespeare's Macbeth.
In 2025 the company was cited by Ilana Lucas in BroadwayWorld's Top Toronto Theatre of the year. Bug was named to Glenn Sumi's Top 10 Toronto Theatre Productions, and Nicholas Eddie's performance in it to Sumi's Top 10 Toronto Theatre Artists.
Press
"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 (✭✭✭½)
"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 (✭✭✭✭)
"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
story
Before The King Black Box
Rooney's record of premiering Canadian work reaches back through two companies she founded, Sterling Studio Theatre and The Theatre Machine. There she produced world premieres by Istvan Dugalin, Noah Davis, Jane Ford, and Michael Eisner, and brought Diane Flacks' By a Thread to Toronto audiences in revival. Her directing and design across those companies ran from John Patrick Shanley and Lanford Wilson to Don Nigro and Tennessee Williams, moving fluently between the dramatic canon and new Canadian plays.
On stage
She performs in English and French, including the Paris premiere of Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living at Théâtre Les Voûtes Paris 13, and Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound at Théâtre Alexandre Dumas in St Germain en Laye.
Beyond the stage
Her short film Fallen Fighter won the Kodak Award for Best Picture and Best Director, screened at over 20 international festivals, and was formally adopted into the Chicago public school curriculum. She served as Director and Voice Director on Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec), The Game Awards 2018 Game of the Year and a BAFTA nominee for Best Performance, and directed its two subsequent DLC titles. She has voice directed animation for Netflix and Boat Rocker, and works internationally as a Dubbing Director for Netflix.
Teaching
Founder and Director of RAW Actor Studio, active since 2008, and an appointed mentor for filmmakers through both the Ontario Arts Council and the New Brunswick Arts Board grant bodies. Formerly Assistant Professor at The American University of Paris.
Training
She trained on merit scholarships at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the Oxford School of Drama, later attending EICAR International Film School in Paris and completing the three-year Stanislavski program at L'Atelier de Blanche Salant et Paul Weaver. She studied with Larry Moss and Valerie Landsburg. A longtime protégée of Amy Werba, of the Strasberg and Winters lineage, she is featured prominently in Werba's Be Your Own Coach, published by The Drama Book Shop in New York.
Origins
Born and raised in France, Rooney holds dual French and British citizenship and lives in Toronto as a Canadian permanent resident. She founded her first company while still at school: INSEINE CRU, started at The British School of Paris after the school defunded all theatre programming. She raised the money herself, produced several shows, and closed her graduating year with a 500-seat production. The company still runs today, passed from student to student across successive graduating classes. She was a session singer for Barclay-Music and for producer Ross Robinson, and served as Performance Director for premiere dancers at the Moulin Rouge.
Representation
ACTRA and 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.