Montserratian actor Dionne Audain emerges as an unsuspecting wife in an all-new episode of the long-running CBS police drama S.W.A.T., airing on Wednesday, December 11, 2019.
Born on island to a Vincentian father who served as a police officer and a Montserratian mother, Audain spent her early years here before moving to the Bronx, New York. She credits Montserrat for sparking her passion for dancing, performing and modeling.
After a 20-year absence, Audain returned to Montserrat in 2011 to speak at YES Caribbean about her journey of leaving corporate America in 2005 to pursue her dream of becoming an actor. Despite numerous challenges, even breaking her leg in three places, she has remained steadfast in her focus to build her career. In 2018, Dionne came back to headline 1768, a theatrical re-imagining of the St Patrick’s Day rebellion.
In this week’s episode titled “Monster,” the S.W.A.T. team (Shemar Moore, Lina Esco, Jay Harrington) has to provide security for a warlord who is threatened by assassins determined to take him out before he’s extradited by the International Criminal Court. Audain steps into the storyline as Verna, the warlord’s wife and mother to their young son.
Audain was excited to be part of this fan favourite series, adding “This role was my most physically and emotionally challenging to date. My first day onset I had no dialogue and could not use any words to convey a very intense part of the storyline. That’s when I first noticed how super supportive the entire cast and crew are on S.W.A.T. It felt like a loving family with director Guy Ferland at the helm and writer A.C. Allen at his side — it was an actors dream to work with such amazing people.”
Audain has built a solid reputation for her talents on both screen and stage. Fans will recognize her from her appearances on several acclaimed television series, including John Singleton’s Snowfall, Jenji Kohan’s Orange is the New Black, Terence Winter’s Boardwalk Empire, and David Simon’s The Wire among others. Her feature film credits include in Joel Schumacher’s Twelve, and Phillip Noyce’s Salt; along with indie films such as the Cannes Cinefondation official selection I Am My Own Mother, and the 58th Venice Biennale exhibit, Doppelganger, which landed on the New York Times Arts Section front page. She also won the Bare Bones Int’l Film & Music Festival’s Grand Jury Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the feature film Dinner with the Alchemist.
On stage, Audain performed in 26 US states as part of the Kennedy Center’s national tour of the children’s musical Alice, written by Whoopi Goldberg, adapted for the stage by Kim Himes and directed by Shirley Jo Finney. The New York Times touted Audain as having “a nice, natural air” for her performance in the Off-Broadway show Ten; and she earned notice for portraying a military wife in the Vietnam era drama Silent Heroes. Audain is working on several projects coming soon, including a top-secret motion capture video game role, The Kailen a dramatic mythical fantasy TV show set in the year 2369 written by Gabriel Portuondo and Michelle Swan, Ten-Cent Daisyan ethereal mermaid folktale feature film by writer director Lisbon Okafor, indie short film Discovering Brooklynn by writer and director Aliya Brooks, and a new short film written and directed by Tiffany Yvonne Cox called Roadside Assistance.
Today, Audain splits her time between Los Angeles, New York and Europe.
For more about DIONNE AUDAIN follow her on:Instagram: @iamdionneaudain // Twitter: @DionneAudain // FB: Dionne Audain Fan Page
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