Heather Hawkins is an award -winning actress, director, and theater teacher. For the past 20 years, Heather has been acting professionally in theater, film, and commercial work as well as teaching and directing children and youth all around Seattle and the Puget Sound.

As an actress Heather has performed locally with Arts West, Taproot, ACT, Village Theater, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Wooden O, Seattle Public Theater, Our American Theater, Mirror Stage, Theater Schmeater, the 14/48 festival and Theater Anonymous. She is currently touring the staged reading, "The Future Remembered" for Book-It Theater - all about the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle - and she is prepping for her one woman show "Shirley Valentine" to be performed at Arts West in January and February 2013.

Heather began her teaching and directing career touring the country with the Missoula Children's Theater in "The Wizard of Oz." She went on to help co-found the after-school arts academy, The Mad Factory, in Oberlin, OH. She spent many years teaching pre-school theater and music in Seattle. She has taught for and developed curriculum for Studio East, Youth Theater Northwest, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Repertory Theater, Intiman's Living History program and was education director for the now departed Empty Space Theater.

She was a rostered artist-in-residence for the Washington State Arts Commission where early residencies included work with Stevens, Coe, John Hay, Alki, and View Ridge Elementary Schools. Heather also developed and ran Shakespeare residencies at Hamilton, Whitman, and TOPS middle schools- as well as teaching workshops at Roosevelt and Clover Park High Schools. These residencies were funded by partnerships between PTA's and grants through the Seattle Arts Commission and the King County Arts Commission. These residencies often led to long-term relationships - one with the Community School in Kirkland -where Heather has taught for 14 years and another with Olympic View Elementary School in Seattle where she taught several Shakespeare residencies that turned into 18 years of directing their spring play and musical - most recently "Aladdin." She has been co-directing and producing the spring musical at Eckstein Middle School for the past 6 years where they did the Northwest premiere of the musical "13" and most recently, "Annie."

Heather leads the Olympic View Elementary School choir and thinks that there is nothing more fun than singing and acting with kids loudly and joyously. She also maintains a private studio and coaches children and youth on auditions, monologues, songs, and scene work.

A graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, Heather has used her education and experience throughout her career. Her philosophy is all about every kid having a place, building a family through theater, and producing the most professional show possible in a kind and loving atmosphere.

Heather lives in the Roosevelt neighborhood in Seattle with her sound designer husband- Jay Weinland and her kids- 14 year old Duncan Weinland-an eighth grader at Eckstein Middle School and 11 year old Tessa Weinland-a sixth grader at Hamilton International Middle School.