Jody Jaress

A veteran actress Jody has become known for her complex character roles Having played everything from the darkest depths of insanity to a grounded psychiatrist a creepy nanny a tormented nurturing mother to a ditsy wife Jody began her entertainment career more than 40 years ago in Michigan Her ancestors arrived in New York from Germany and Wales in the 1800s and migrated to Southern Illinois where they became teachers nurses lawyers farmers pastors lawmen with a couple of rogues among them Jody was born in Ottawa Illinois just prior to her dad joining the Navy Seabees in WWII Once the war ended the family moved to Ferndale Michigan just outside of Detroit for many years and then moved out to horse country in Rochester Michigan Jody divided her time between competing in Western horse shows singing and beginning studies in theatre acting stage makeup lighting sound set design and directing at the WillOWay Apprentice Theatre and Repertory Company in Bloomfield Hills Michigan After graduating from RHS Rochester High School at age seventeen winning the Miss Rochester Pageant the Miss Romeo Peach Queen title and then placing in the Miss Michigan Pageant Jody went to NYC to make the rounds and meet up with Lee Strasberg who welcomed her into his home for lunch and to meet his family He requested that she come back the following year when she would be old enough to join the Actors Studio She moved to California instead after meeting the iconic horror film director William Castle at a premier back in Detroit Now in California her very first film with dialog was The Bigot aka The Hunting Season and recently remastered and distributed by Troma Pictures as Deadly Daphnes Revenge 1987