Vanessa Schaefer is an Irish/German actor, writer and director. After finishing high school in Cape Town, she returned to Ireland to pursue acting. Vanessa studied acting and theatre at the Lir Academy. Following that, she was cast in various short films, which earned festival her
exposure. These included “Happy Birthday, Dear”, “Hear a No”, “What about Now?” and the lead in the podcast play “The V – Realm”.
Vanessa recently played the role of Jane in the feature film “Blurred Lines” directed by Mark Agar and produced in conjunction with the Luxemburg Film Festival. Her most prolific role was playing the lead, Tara, in the feature film “Dive”, released in 2018 and found on Amazon Prime. This year, Vanessa also played Sapphire in the short film “Second Soahl.”

Vanessa turned to writing and teaching to keep busy during COVID. She earned a distinction in her ALCM Diploma in Drama Teaching and
Communication and taught at Betty Ann Norton Theatre School. This year, she completed an MA in screenwriting, while publishing a short story “Chicken Soup for the Soul” and recently entered into a publishing contract for her children’s book “The Magic of Mna”. She has directed two of her short scripts, “The Masterplan” and “Capable.” Vanessa only recently moved to Vancouver and is looking forward to working in the industry here