As a young child, Vanessa Roman remembers looking up at the big screen in a movie theater and being in awe of the actors, the sets, the images and all of the beauty of film. It was at that moment, she knew she wanted to be a part of that world. Roman’s mother, a professor of English Literature, encouraged her love of film, theater and stories. Her mother took her to her first Shakespeare play at age five. Vanessa was hooked. She started writing fiction and plays at the age of seven when she lived in Oxford, England. It wasn’t long before she began winning writing awards in school and dreaming of working in the arts.
She studied film and creative writing at Webster University, earning her degree while working with several of her professors on their professional film projects. After a summer job as assistant director for Clayton Community Theatre, she was hired by City Players Theatre and began working professionally as their literary manager, often joining the directing and stage managing team for many productions. She often served as dramaturge as well.
Roman had her first play, The Fifty Dollar Proposition produced by First Run Theatre and after, she was hired as resident director and literary consultant, helping new playwrights take their works from page to stage.
After several years working in theater, Roman decided to start making her own films. She wrote and directed a short horror film, "Play Dead" in 2009 that went on to win Best Horror Short and Best Juvenile Actor at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. The short played in film festivals in Toronto, Berlin and in many cities in the USA. The following year, she produced and directed a short film called "The Inheritance" which won Best Experimental film at the Toronto Female Eye Film Festival. After that followed many projects where she produced, directed and acted in various film and theater productions.
Soon after, Roman took on her first feature film, "Doubting Tom", a romantic comedy she wrote, produced and directed. It was formally released in August 2022. Her feature is in distribution right now with Adler and Associates Entertainment.
Roman often directs and acts in theater and film productions currently and her great love of working with children led to a position as Teaching Artist with Gateway Center for Performing Arts where she taught Acting for Camera, Stage Acting and Improv. In 2017, she directed Clare Boothe Luce’s "The Women” and was nominated for nine Theater Mask awards (including Best Director). Her passion has always been working with actors and taking plays and screenplays from page to stage and screen.