About

Jan recently won ‘Best Actress’ in award winning ‘Best International Feature Film’ ‘Elysium” (Vienna) at Chicago Film Festival USA - Nov 2019. The film also won best ‘Arthouse film’ at Chicago film festival in 2018.

Jan Graveson is a highly accomplished actress from the county of Durham in the north east of England. Born into a poor yet musical family, Jan first experienced performing on stage at the tender age of 6. From there she immediately dedicated herself to learning all the skills possible in the three disciplines of acting, singing and dance toward her absolute love of performing and desire to execute to the best and excel. 

Jan’s theatre acting career began in her late teens in her native Newcastle UK at Live Theatre, where she avidly took part in productions to learn her craft. Parallel to this Jan was hot-off-the-trot absorbing skills and knowledge for screen acting. In fact, her TV acting career started at age 14 with her first walk-on role and expanded rapidly to a string of walk-ons and leads across the board on British TV all through her teen years.

It was here that she absorbed and digested all the skills possible and familiarized herself with both film set and stage craft before heading to London.

Once in London, Jan found herself an agent. It didn’t take long till she landed a dream role and shot to fame in the early playing a lead reg role in Britain’s No1 soap TV series ‘Eastenders’. Becoming a household name overnight, Jan swept the boards and touched the hearts of the British nation. Her characterization of the role led to her being awarded Winner of Best Newcomer to British TV Soap by BBC TV. She went on to star in many popular TV series and dramas, bringing innovative and out-of-the-ordinary nuances to each role she embraced.

But as the West End theatre beckoned, Jan left the soap after half a year for the world of theatre, a place she really craved for, where she could execute all her hard-earned skills…..The West End! 

Jan swiftly became known as a ‘triple threat’ performer after her first performance at The Albery Theatre in London, playing her first role in her first musical. ‘Blood Brothers’ in the West End opened to rave reviews and a standing ovation. This revelation took Jan to Toronto and ultimately Broadway. It was at the Music Box Theatre New York where Jan received an unbelievable 21-minute standing ovation with her fellow cast for opening night on Broadway! Jan was awarded a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Best Featured Actress In A Musical - Tony Award. The Musical was also nominated for Best Musical - Tony Award. 

Following roles in shows as ‘Copa Cabana’ (Gladys), ‘Hard Times’ (Rachel), ‘Rocky Horror Show’ (Magenta), ‘Cabaret’ (Sally Bowles), as well as straight theatre plays such as ‘Raving Beauties’ ‘Double D’ and  ‘And A Nightingale Sang’ she earned much acclaim as not only a great character actress but a versatile singer too. She won Rock Vocalist of the Year - Winner twice and has sang in many musicals, signed to Warner Bros and to date has created and recorded numerous jingles and completed various vocal sessions and performances as well as fronting two bands. She has sang alongside stars such as Liza Minnelli (daughter of thee Judy Garland), David Soul, Prince, Brian Blessed, Michael Ball, Helen Reddy, Petula Clark, Lyn Paul, Roy Hudd, Stephanie Lawrence, David Cassidy, The Waterboys, Gem (from Oasis), Edwin Starr to name a few.

Jan studied dance forms such as jazz, modern, ballet, song & dance and tap from the age of 7. She was Winner of the Tap Dancing Championships of Great Britain two years in a row by the age of 12, and won the English Tap Dancing Championships at age 13. Winner of the North East Song & Dance Championships of Britain. She completed her dance studies at age 17 earning her teacher’s tickets with Int. Dance Teachers Assoc - London. 

Jan studied piano with the Royal Schools of Music (achieving up to Grade 8) and is an accomplished musician and songwriter. Her vocal skills were born out of song & dance and came to light in London’s West End and Broadway - the temple of theatre!

Jan is renowned for her ultimate triple threat abilities to act, sing and dance to a very high standard and all at the same time. She has written a thesis based on this subject, conducted many workshops and devised various courses regarding her philosophies: ‘The Art Of Performing’

Jan’s first feature film in which she played the provocative and scandalous lead ‘Naomi’ alongside top British star actor Ray Winstone in 2006, was BAFTA nominated. Jan was awarded Winner of Best Newcomer to Screen at Sydney Film Festival.  

In a nutshell… Jan’s whole life has been geared around acting, performing and coaching for aspiring performers, As she explains, it IS about learning your skills and craft yes…but its also about grit, determination and passion and that too must be conveyed and learnt.

Jan has either performed with or theatrically collaborated with: Liza Minnelli, Carole King, Petula Clark, Michael Ball, Oasis, Edwin Starr, Prince, Waterboys, Steel Eye Span, Toy Dolls, The Edge, Alabama 3, Lyn Paul, Helen Reddy (to name a few….)

Jan has collaborated with reputable and talented Indian directors in web and film such as, Zoya Akthar, Tanuja Chandra, Nitya Mehra, Shoojit Sircar, Raja Krishna Menon and Vishal Bhardwaj. 

Jan is thrilled to be in India at a time where Musical Theatre is growing fast toward taking the limelight it deserves. 

Jan’s Musical Theatre shows:

Blood Brothers (Tony Award nom. BROADWAY), Blood Brothers West End – London @ Albery Theatre / Phoenix Theatre, Hard Times the Musical – Piccadilly Theatre, London, Copa Cabana No 1 UK Tour – Gladys, Heaven Can Wait No 1 UK Tour – Stella, Billy Elliott – original workshop, Guys & Dolls – West End, Rocky Horror Show – UK Tour, 42nd Street – West End, And A Nightingale Sang – Bolton Octagon Theatre, Queer As Folk – Off West End, Cabaret – UK Tour – Sally Bowles, All That Jazz – London & UK Tour, The Rise & Fall of Little Voice – No 1 UK Tour, Raving Beauties – Liverpool Playhouse, Tom & Catherine  The Musical - by Jon Miles, HAIR The Musical (European No1 Tour), Blood Brothers Royal Alex, Toronto.