Sara Canning

Sara Canning was born on July 14, 1987, in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. She spent her early years in Brown’s Arm before relocating to Sherwood Park, Alberta, where she developed an interest in theatre. Canning performed in various stage productions during her time at F.R. Haythorne Junior High and Bev Facey Community High School. At 18, she made her professional stage debut in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. She briefly pursued general arts at the University of Alberta with an interest in journalism before moving to Vancouver at 19 to focus on her acting career. She completed a year-long screen acting program at Vancouver Film School in 2007.

Canning’s screen career began in 2008 with her role as Nicky Hilton in the television film ‘Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story’. She quickly gained further television experience with guest appearances on ‘Smallville’ and ‘Kyle XY’ in 2009, and a starring role in the TV movie ‘Taken in Broad Daylight’. A significant turning point came with her co-starring role as Jenna Sommers in The CW’s ‘The Vampire Diaries’, which she filmed after completing the feature film ‘Black Field’ (2009). Her portrayal of Jenna Sommers spanned from 2009 to 2011, with additional guest appearances in later seasons. During this period, she also explored writing and directing, working on a short film noir titled ‘Corvus’ and appearing in the Lifetime network film ‘Hunt for the I-5 Killer’ in 2011.

Her career continued with diverse roles, including the Hallmark Movie Channel Western ‘Hannah’s Law’ (2012) and the Canadian sci-fi series ‘Primeval: New World’ (2012–2013), where she played Dylan Weir. From 2014 to 2015, Canning took on a main role as Dr. Melissa Conner in the Global medical drama ‘Remedy’, a performance for which she received critical recognition, winning the UBCP/ACTRA Best Actor award in 2014 and a Leo Award in 2015. She expanded her filmography with roles in major productions such as ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ (2017) and the Netflix series ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ (2017–2018), where she played Jacquelyn Scieszka. Canning has also engaged in producing, with executive producer credits on films like ‘Kill Victoria’ (2024), demonstrating a broader involvement in film production.