A native New Yorker who began her appreciation of the performing arts at a young age. Her first love was ballet, but during her childhood, she was also known to sing along to whatever Broadway music albums her family was playing. Dedication to dance meant rigorous training over many years with wonderful instructors, some include: Leda Eglesky, Chet Walker, and Juan Carlos Copes. That dedication led to Diane being put on scholarship at Joffrey Ballet. Around the same time, she was fortunate to join her sisters to purse a modeling career with Ford Models, children’s division, working for Danskin, Avon, Macys, Young Miss magazine and many other clients over those years.
Her dedication to dance later blossomed into Diane becoming an Arthur Murray ballroom instructor, following in her father’s footsteps. She also began performing with community theatres, while working with vocal instructors, such as Robert Marks, Jeanie LoVetri, and Penny Kreitzer. Then, on to regional theatres as well as corporate industrials. She was thrilled to join Actors Equity Association after being an EMC (Equity Membership Candidate) on various shows and earning enough weeks to qualify.
Her work as a musical theatre performer, dance captain and choreographer took her to stages all across the US and abroad. On the SS Seabreeze touring the Caribbean, her nightly musical theatre performances taught her to be quickly adaptable, as dancing on a moving vessel on water comes with its challenges. She was also thrilled to perform in Japan in different parts of the country, over the course of two years learning to love the language and culture along the way.
Diane’s dancing also led her to her first film. She didn’t dance in the film, but while auditioning stapled a flyer for her current Citibank Argentine Tango industrial gig to her headshot and literally “stuck out in the pile” of so many hopefuls, according to the Casting Director. Within a few months of focusing on film work, she joined SAG-AFTRA and had the unforgettable opportunity to work in a film with Michael Caine. Diane recalls how gracious he was to her; although they only did one scene together, he introduced her to his family, and then talked through their scene so she, a complete novice, felt comfortable. That work lead to many more films and to television appearances. Another amazing opportunity was playing Phyllis in Sex and the City with the incomparable Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth. Both actors were equally kind to her which made Diane’s experience on set even more thrilling.
Her VO work started with a job for FOX-TV, where she described the season’s fall lineup. She also did VOs for business corporations including: DMOD and Data Pilot, where she was an Avatar as well as the website’s voice. But one assignment that really challenged her vocal skills, was to replicate screaming that went on at an early mental asylum, to represented all the women confined there, to create a background sound scape for a stage play.
Diane has always appreciated the value of training. When she wasn’t in a show or re-inventing herself as a business person, she was often in acting classes working with inspiring instructors including: Alexander Dinelaris, Ruth Nerken, Jeff Cohen and Jaqueline Brogan among others. Her training with Atlantic Acting School, where she was fortunate to work with highly acclaimed teachers, including founding member, Karen Kohlhaas, gave her the foundation she uses in her work today.
Diane continues to train with SAG-AFTRA Conservatory; having worked with session directors Ron August, Melinda Hall, Dar Bejnar and Jon Freda who helped round out her Commercial, Shakespeare, Teleprompter and Improv skills. Impressed with the quality of the program, Diane was inspired to create a SAG-AFTRA Conservatory program website prototype, and to volunteer to update scripts and commercial copy for all class attendees. She was later recognized for her dedication and was given the Joseph C. Riley award. She is now a board member of the SAG-AFTRA Conservatory.
Diane is currently extremely busy as co-Producer of Unseen Theatre, an audio podcast showcasing original plays featuring female protagonists voiced by SAG-AFTRA actors, that has now produced four plays. This has given her an opportunity to work with many talented union actors, whose work she admires. She is diligently working on Unseen Theatre’s next play, already in post-production. She can also be seen in staged readings with one of the many playwrights’ groups of which she is happy to be a member including: The PlayGround Experiment, NYC Playwrights and PAGES.