JILLIAN VITKO
ABOUT
Jillian was born in New Hampshire and grew up in Pennsylvania. She has a BA in Theatre from the University of Pittsburgh. While living in Pittsburgh, Jillian starred in the hit web series The Baristas, as well as performed in the regional immersive experience STRATA (Best Play of the Year / featured in American Theatre Magazine).
Since moving to NYC, Jillian's studied comedy at UCB, The Annoyance, Reckless, and Magnet, where she spent a year on the musical improv house team Pipe Dreams on Musical Megawatt. She also co-created the musical improv show True Crime the Musical, currently running Off-Broadway at The Players Theatre, with her improv/sketch duo Beautiful Dreamers Comedy. You can catch Jillian in the improvised web series Citizens of New York playing various characters. She also performs as an improviser in the weekly Off-Broadway comedy show On the Spot at
Broadway Comedy Club.
Jillian can be seen in film & TV on Amazon, Netflix, Investigation Discovery, and TLC, among others. Her work in film has earned her several Best Actress nominations. She's also performed theatre/musical theatre on many stages, including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Royal Family Theatre, and 13th Street Repertory, being lucky enough to play classic characters as well as originate roles in new works along the way.
During the pandemic, Jillian didn't slow down much. Two of her "quaran-films" 14 Days and Twinstrumental have accrued awards such as Best COVID-19 Film and Best Mobile film and nominations such as Best Actress, Best Quarantine Film, and Audience Choice Award. Twinstrumental also won the Audience Award for Best Quarantine Film of the Year by American Golden Picture International Film Festival.
As a filmmaker, Jillian has served as a jury member for the 2022 & 2023 FFTG Awards and was chosen as a featured filmmaker at Cabin Fever Film Festival. Her newest short, HoneyDough, which is available to stream online, has won Best Comedy, Best Actress, Best Short, Best Writer, Best Director, and Best Art Design Concept at various festivals around the world.
Jillian's been writing music for as long as she can remember. Her latest EP, Glimmers, is available to stream everywhere. In 2019, Jillian took her solo show Synesthesia the Musical, inspired by the music of her own life, to Edinburgh Fringe Festival (named a Stand-Out Show by PopDust) and New York Theatre Festival. She's expanded the story to fit in even more of her music by adapting the show into a feature film, Synesthesia Story. The script has already won screenwriting awards at film festivals and the film is currently in pre-production. The album and film have been fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas. She recorded the first single from the film, Color Me Crazy, and the music video for the song premiered in Spring 2023.
Jillian also serves as a Co-Chair for the BOOST Program at Off The Lane, a producer/writer at 99 Cent Productions, musical improv instructor, Video Captioner, CCO, and seasonal host at TeamBuilding.com.
