About
Ness Hopkins
Vanessa (Ness) Hopkins is an award-winning actor and director whose life's work spans dance, theater, film, music, fine art and performance art. She has spent over four decades performing, directing, and exploring what enables human beings to meet the moment on stage, film, and in life.
Her work is shaped by decades of practice with master teachers and her lived experience across a multitude of disciplines. Ness has directed and coached both trained and untrained actors from all walks of life, with a particular gift for recognizing raw potential and guiding people toward greater freedom and artistry.
Her work is grounded and precise, with close attention to what each student needs in order to have a breakthrough. While compassion is at the core of her approach, she believes that sometimes the most compassionate act is simply to tell the truth.
Ness worked for several years as a professional actor/performer in Los Angeles, New York City, and The Bay Area and Europe before moving into directing and teaching. She later founded Two Wolves Theater School for kids in Portland, and has taught acting and yoga at PHAME Academy, working with "developmentally-challenged" adults as well as "at risk" youth at The Boys and Girls Club in Venice Ca, and the formally incarcerated though-out the PNW.
She has also offers private acting and transformational coaching to actors, artists, as well as people during crisis, loss, and as an end-of-life doula. She is available online and in person in the Bay Area, L.A, Portland, and locally in Ashland, Oregon.
Her film work can be found @ www.lifeisshortfilms.com
Her coaching work can be found @ www.i-am-ness.com
