Iris Bannerman

Iris is Professor Emeritus of Ryerson University, Toronto, where she taught voice and speech and headed the acting program of the Ryerson Theatre School. Her acting career includes performing in the UK at Stratford-upon-Avon and in Canada at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She has distinguished herself as a master voice teacher and has coached hundreds of students and celebrities on radio, television and the stage, including Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), and Eric McCormack (Will and Grace).

She won the prestigious Professor of the Year Award at Ryerson University and is listed in Canadian Who’s Who. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Toronto. Iris appeared in the animated feature-length film Ferretina – The Promise, and coached “motion capture” actors in the animated kids’ TV series Mighty Mighty Monsters. She has performed on stage with the Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre in Victoria and teaches acting, voice and dialects at the Canadian College of Performing Arts. She has self-published a book of her famous voice and speech exercises: THINK BREATHE SPEAK.