Biography

Jane Alderman

Although Jane lays claim to seat E5 out in the house this is her first time up on Steppenwolf’s stage. Her first encounter however with the wondrous acting company was appearing along side John Malkovich and Glenne Headly as their mother in The Goodman Theatre’s groundbreaking production of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class directed by Robert Falls some 20 years ago. This past summer, Jane appeared with Chicago Children’s Theatre production of Honus and Me at The Goodman. She has been a casting director for 28 years with over 59 films, 68 television shows and 36 plays to her credit. These include The Straight Story, Rudy, Flags of our Fathers, The Joan Cusack Show, Turks, Early Edition, HBO’s Normal, and Fred Claus. For over 14 years she has been doing the Chicago casting for ER. As an actress Jane was seen recently in Funny Girl at Marriott Lincolnshire, Vagina Monologues at the Apollo and several appearances with IO and The Annoyance Theatre doing improv. Her film work includes Ordinary People and most recently appeared as Vince Vaughn’s Mom in The Break Up. She taught at The Theatre School of DePaul for 20 years and mostly recently has been teaching at Roosevelt and Northwestern Universities. She produced and founded the Jeff Award-winning ensemble The Dogs in Xenogenisis and Dogtown. The winner of the Casting Society of America’s Artios Awards for Excellence in Casting of A Dramatic Pilot for Ez Streets and for Casting of A Movie of The Week for Normal, she has also been nominated for Turks and ER. Besides her teaching and many seminars she is also writing a short novel for children at heart. Proud member of Actor’s Equity.