Sara Canning

Sara Canning
General Information
Gender:	Female
Birthday:	July 14, 1987
Age:	31
Birthplace:	Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Other Information
Height:	5'6¼"
Occupation(s):	Actress
Education:	F.R. Haythorne Junior High Bev Facey Community High School Vancouver Film School
Talents:	Acting
Family & Friends
Family:	Wayne Canning (father) Daphne Canning (mother)
Series Information
Character:	Gretel
Only appearance:	Sisterhood

Sara Canning is a Canadian actress. She co-starred on The CW television series The Vampire Diaries as Jenna Sommers, and appeared in the 2009 feature film, Black Field. She starred as Dylan Weir in the Canadian television series, Primeval: New World, and as Dr. Melissa Conner on the Global medical drama Remedy. Canning appeared in the 2017 blockbuster film War for the Planet of the Apes.

Early life

Canning was born in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, the daughter of Wayne and Daphne Canning. She lived in Brown's Arm, Newfoundland until age eleven, and was then raised in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, Alberta. She competed as a figure skater in her childhood and early adolescent years, and became interested in theatre as a student at F.R. Haythorne Junior High. Canning starred in several stage productions while attending Bev Facey Community High School, and acted in shows at her hometown stage at Festival Place.

Canning made her professional acting debut in George Orwell's 1984 at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton at the age of 18. She began studying general arts at the University of Alberta, and considered going into journalism. Still interested in performing, Canning left university at 19 and moved to Vancouver to pursue a career in acting. She graduated from a year-long screen acting program at Vancouver Film School in 2007.

Career

Canning found an agent and began acting in television series and TV films produced in Vancouver. She worked in a restaurant and would take time off to film. Her first role was in 2008, playing Nicky Hilton in Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story. In 2009, she guest-starred on Smallville and Kyle XY, and starred in the based-on-real-events TV movie, Taken in Broad Daylight. She played Anne Sluti, a 17-year- old girl who was abducted by a demented criminal (James Van Der Beek).

In 2009, Canning filmed a pilot episode for the CW network television series, The Vampire Diaries. She then starred in the feature film, Black Field, a 19th-century gothic period piece directed by Danishka Esterhazy. Canning shot the drama near Tyndall, Manitoba, Canada in May 2009. She played Maggie McGregor, the older of two British sisters struggling take make their way on the Canadian Prairies. The film premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2009. The Vampire Diaries series was picked up three weeks after she completed work on the film.

Canning co-starred on The Vampire Diaries as Jenna Sommers, the aunt and guardian of Elena Gilbert , and her younger brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). Canning was younger or the same age as her fellow cast members who played high school students. Makeup artists and the wardrobe team worked to make her look older. Canning also downplayed her Canadian accent for the role. Matthew Davis played her character's love interest, Alaric. Canning appeared on the second season of The Vampire Diaries from 2010–2011, until her character was killed in the episode "The Sun Also Rises".

Canning is interested in writing and directing. As of September 2010, she was co-writing a love story set in the Western time period. In 2011, she worked on a short film noir, titled Corvus, and shot the Lifetime network film, Hunt for the I-5 Killer, in Vancouver. She filmed the Hallmark Movie Channel Western, Hannah's Law, in Calgary, Alberta in late 2011, starring alongside Greystone Holt.

Canning appeared in I Think I Do, which began filming in January 2012 in Edmonton. She starred as Audrey, an event planner who runs a business alongside her two sisters (Mia Kirschner and Jenny Cooper). The romantic comedy aired in 2013 on the W and Lifetime networks. She filmed the independent romantic comedy, The Right Kind of Wrong, in Banff, Alberta in late 2012, starring alongside Ryan Kwanten and Catherine O'Hara, directed by Jeremiah Chechik.

Canning starred in the 2012–2013 Space channel television series, Primeval: New World, a Canadian spin-off of the British sci-fi series Primeval. She played predator control expert Dylan Weir, a member of a dinosaur hunting team; the series was filmed in Vancouver. Canning also starred in 2012 with Aaron Ashmore in the dark romantic comedy, I Put a Hit on You. In 2013, she joined the cast of the psychological drama film, Eadweard, starring Michael Eklund. She played Flora, the wife of 19th-century photographer Eadweard Muybridge.

Canning played general surgeon Mel Conner in the Global medical drama, Remedy, co-starring Sarah Allen, Dillon Casey, and Enrico Colantoni. The television series was in production in Toronto from October 2013–January 2014. Broadcast company Shaw Media renewed the series for a second 10-episode season. Canning won the 2014 UBCP/ACTRA best actor and the 2015 Leo Award for Best Lead Performance for her role.

Canning co-starred in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), a sequel to 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. She appeared in On the Farm, a Rachel Talalay-directed TV film about serial killer Robert Pickton, and in Hello Destroyer, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Canning played Jacquelyn Seleszyka in the 2017 Netflix series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on Daniel Handler's book series of the same. She will also star as the head of a boarding school, Ms. Brixil, in the thriller, Level 16, written and directed by Danishka Esterhazy.

Filmography

Year	Title	Type	Role
2008	Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story	TV Movie	Nicky Hilton
2008	Smallville	TV Series	Kat
2008	Slap Shot 3: The Junior League	Video	Hope
2009	Kyle XY	TV Series	Redhead
2009	Taken in Broad Daylight	TV Movie	Anne Sluti
2009	Come Dance at My Wedding	TV Movie	Andrea Merriman
2009	Black Rain	TV Movie	Jenny
2009	Black Field		Maggie McGregor
2009 - 2017	The Vampire Diaries	TV Series	Jenna Sommers
2011	Hunt for the I-5 Killer	TV Movie	Beth Williams
2012	Supernatural	TV Series	Lydia
2012	Hannah's Law	TV Movie	Hannah Beaumont
2012	Corvus	Short	The Dame
2012 - 2013	Primeval: New World	TV Series	Dylan Weir
2013	I Think I Do		Audrey Ryan
2013	King & Maxwell	TV Series	Claire Culpepper
2013	The Right Kind of Wrong		Colette
2013	Garage Sale Mystery	TV Movie	Hannah
2013 - 2014	Republic of Doyle	TV Series	Jessica Dwyer
2014	I Put a Hit on You		Harper
2014	Hell on Wheels	TV Series	Charlotte Royce
2014 - 2015	Remedy	TV Series	Melissa Conner
2015	Eadweard		Flora
2016	Motive	TV Series	Tracy Blaine
2016	On the Farm	TV Movie	Sinead McLeod
2016	Hello Destroyer		Wendy Davis
2017	Android Employed	TV Series	Sophia
2017	War for the Planet of the Apes		Lake
2017	Prodigals		Jen
2017	Multiverse Dating for Beginners	Short	Ivy
2017 - 2018	A Series of Unfortunate Events	TV Series	Jacquelyn
2018	Send Us Smokes	Short	Lucille
2018	Level 16		Miss Brixil
2018	Once Upon a Time	TV Series	Gretel
2018	Welcome to Nowhere		Blake
2018	A.R.C.H.I.E. 2		Lara
2018	Take Two	TV Series	Melissa Larson
2018	Van Helsing	TV Series	Carter / Polly Miller
2018	The Fish & The Sea	Short	The Real Estate Agent
2019	Hatch	Short	Marcy
2019	The Banana Splits Movie		Rebecca
2019	Wu Assassins	TV Series	Alana
2019	Z (completed)		Jenna Montgomery
2019	Hospital Show (post-production)	TV Mini-Series	Charlie (Dr. Samantha Grace)
2019	Amish Abduction (post-production)	TV Movie	Annie
2020	An Awkward Balance (post-production)		Venice

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2012	Leo Award	Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama	Hannah's Law	Nominated
2014	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Actress Award	Remedy	Won
2015	Leo Award	Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series	Remedy	Won
		Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series	Hell on Wheels	Nominated
	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Actress Award	Eadweard	Nominated
2016	Leo Award	Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series	Remedy	Nominated
		Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Television Movie	On the Farm	Nominated
2017	Leo Award	Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series	A Series of Unfortunate Events	Nominated