Jeanne Sakata is an award-winning actor and playwright whose versatility spans across theater, television, film, voiceover animation, and audiobooks.
Recent TV recurring and guest star roles include ABC/Shondaland’s Station 19, CBS’ Magnum P.I., NCIS Hawai’i, NCIS Los Angeles, and Disney Plus’ High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, with her voice talents featured in Marvel’s animated series Hit Monkey, Apple TV’s Stillwater, Disney’s Big Hero 6, and Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the audiobooks How High We Go In The Dark (2023 Audie Award Finalist for Science Fiction) and Trust.
Onstage, Jeanne recently performed in Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum, as well as the world premiere of Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich’s Here There Are Blueberries at La Jolla Playhouse. Additional stage credits include the Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Vineyard Theatre, People's Light Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Theatre Works Silicon Valley, Berkeley Rep, ACT San Francisco, ACT Seattle, and Portland Center Stage, to name a few.
Jeanne’s first play, the celebrated solo work Hold These Truths, commissioned by Center Theatre Group, has had over two dozen productions across the country and continues to be produced nationally and internationally. Winning rave reviews from The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other AP critics, it is the recipient of numerous awards and has received encore or extended runs at Barrington Stage, Arena Stage, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.
Published by Ageloff Books and available in script or audio play form, Hold These Truths is also on display at the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where the Jeanne Sakata Collection was established in July 2011.
Jeanne also authored the 2021 L.A. Theatre Works audio play For Us All, and is frequently commissioned for new works. Both Hold These Truths and For Us All are available through Audible and other streaming platforms. She is currently working on two commissions: an audio drama of THE SECRET GARDEN for LATW, and a new play for the 2024 Legacy Commissions at Washington DC’s Ford Theatre.
Among numerous honors, she’s received the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in Chay Yew’s Red, a Trailblazer Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement & Raising the Visibility of the API Community by East West Players, and a Lee Melville Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community by Playwrights’ Arena.
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2023 Ticketholder Award
Best Actress In A Play:
Jeanne Sakata
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper ForumTrailblazers Award — East West Players
Outstanding Artistic AchievementOutstanding Artist Award — Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theatre
Lee Melville Award — Playwrights’ Arena
Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre CommunityCertificate of Recognition — City of Pasadena
Hold These TruthsOvation Award — LA Stage Alliance
Outstanding Lead Actress
Red, East West PlayersBest Actress Award — Monaco Charity Film Festival
AdultolescenceOutstanding Performance — Stage Scene
Master ClassBest Supporting Actress Award — Entertainment Today
A Winter PeopleThe Drama-Logue Award — Drama-Logue
Outstanding Performance
The Maids -
She Had It Coming — Angela Noti
Dir. Gedde WatanabeFind Me — Janice
Dir. Tom HuangAdvantageous — Soon Yang (Voice)
Dir. Jennifer PhangThe Babymakers — Wanda
Dir. Jay Chandrasekhar
Selected Credits: View IMDb -
Station 19 — ABC
Nari MontgomeryMagnum P.I. — NBC
Sister AdinaNCIS: Hawai'i — CBS
Vicky ItoHSM: The Musical: The Series — Disney+
MalouNCIS: Los Angeles — CBS
Martha De LeonMeet the Browns — TBS
Nee HiSelected Credits: View IMDb
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Stillwater — Apple TV
ObaachanHit Monkey — Marvel
Fish LadyBig Hero 6 — Disney
Lenore Shimamoto & Mayor SaitoAvatar: The Last Airbender — Nickelodeon
Ms. KwanAdvantageous — Dir. Jennifer Phang
Soon YangSelected Credits: View IMDb
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Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 — Yong Hee
CTG/Mark Taylor Forum
Dir. Gregg T. DanielHere There Are Blueberries — Melita Maschmann et al.
La Jolla Playhouse (World Premiere)
Dir. Moisés KaufmanDo You Feel Anger? — Mom
Vineyard Theatre (World Premiere)
Dir. Margot BordelonRomeo and Juliet: A Requiem — Lady Capulet
People’s Light
Dir. Samantha ReadingSelected Credits: View Full Résumé
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Hold These Truths
Written by Jeanne Sakata
Commissioned by CTG’s Asian Theatre WorkshopFor Us All
Written by Jeanne Sakata
Commissioned by L.A. Theatre WorksTurning the Page
Written by Jeanne Sakata
Commissioned by TheatreFIRST -
Some of Jeanne’s favorite charities & organizations:
Los AngelesSocial Justice
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
Artist Community
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Healthcare & Housing
Children’s Care
AAPI Community
Japanese American National Museum
Theatres/New Play Development
Animal Rights
ACTING REVIEWS
EXPLORE BY SHOW
WRITING REVIEWS
EXPLORE BY SHOW
Press Interviews
Memory Book
SPECIAL FEATURE
Performing Arts Legacy Project
PAL’s mission is to document and represent the legacies and careers of senior performing artists.
Through writings, photo galleries, videos and interviews, share in the milestones of Jeanne’s four-decade career as acclaimed actor and writer.