Janet Weakley is an actress born in St Louis, Missouri on February 15, 1959. She grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where she attended Pine Crest School. There she discovered her love for acting through participation in The National Forensic League, competing in the category of Dramatic Interpretation.
Janet went on to earn her B.A. in Theatre Arts and English at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Upon graduation, she moved to NYC to study acting at HB Studio and The Lee Strasberg Institute. She then returned to Florida, but it wasn’t until 2009 that she began acting professionally. She had the good fortune to be cast as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie under the direction of Tony-nominated director, Michael Leeds and went on to become a sought-after character actress, performing on stages throughout South Florida.
After the Pandemic, she relocated to New Jersey to be close to NYC once again in order to pursue a career in film and television, as well as in the theatre. She recently wrote and performed a solo show,The Promises, at Emerging Artists Theater NYC as part of the Spark Festival 2024. The Promises is now being developed into a one-woman show entitled The Cat Lady’s Daughter. Janet is a member of both SAG/AFTRA and AEA.
The Killing of Sister George' Award Winning Play at Rising Action
Reviewed by Beau Higgins for South Florida Sun Sentinel
Janet Weakley, who was so memorable as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie at Stagedoor Theatre, stars as Sister George. When Weakley first storms onto the set of The Killing of Sister George as June Buckridge, you might catch the edges of Bette Davis. It’s an easy mirage to see in the staging of Frank Marcus’ 1964 dark dramedy at Rising Action Theatre in Fort Lauderdale. As she furiously paces, puffing away at a cigar and yip-yapping in that clipped tone we’re not sure if we really saw it. If it’s an illusion, it’s just a flash of one, brought on no doubt from Weakley’s conjuring a sense of that tempered and forged steel Davis had.
Bell Book And Candle
Reviewed by Bill Hirschman for South Florida Sun Sentinel
Janet Weakley is the performer most in tune with the classic trope of the piece channeling the idiosyncratic yente ala Elsa Lanchester or Marion Lorne on Bewitched.
Broward Stage Door’s The Immigrant: A Tender Family Memoir
Reviewed by Michelle F. Solomon for South Florida Sun Sentinel
While The Immigrant is written to be Haskell’s play, this production has the emotionally powerful Janet Weakley to allow Ima to share focus. Her portrayal is filled with many singular moments, which arrive from a genuine investment of heart and soul with her fellow actors on stage as well as with the audience.
POZ
Reviewed by Christine Dolen for The Miami Herald
Jeffrey Bruce as a caseworker (and proud theater queen) named Oscar and Janet Weakley as Maia, a kooky lesbian medium who happens to be Oscar’s ex, ride the waves of Aman’s comedy like champion surfers.
Pigs Do Fly: Fifty Plus Shorts Fest
Reviewed by Michelle F. Solomon for Miami ArtZine
The final playlet, How Nice of You To Ask, by Rich Rubin, once again allowed Weakley to pull out all the stops and spotlight her comedy as an elderly woman with a surprising past. Weakley was at her comedic best as Marilyn, the overly controlling artistic director of a small theater while Sussman played an eager beaver playwright who just wanted her play produced.
Lend Me a Tenor at Broward Stage Door is a Dizzying Ride
Reviewed by Mary Damigno for Florida Theatre On Stage
The ensemble excels, but there are standouts. Janet Weakley is very funny as a high society opera patron dying for a moment alone with Merelli, and Sheira Feuerstein is deliciously over the top as the local opera singer who views Merelli as her ticket out of Cleveland.
