Anne-Marie Woods is an actor, dancer, narrator, poet, singer, producer, creative consultant, and playwright. She was born in England, her family is from Trinidad and Tobago, and she spent her formative years in Dartmouth, and later Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Anne-Marie Woods started entertaining others at a young age, as a class clown in elementary school. During this time she excelled in reading, writing, sports, and she loved music class. It was in junior high that she learned to harness some of this energy and began taking part in talent shows in school.
In high school she was an active member of the Cultural Awareness Youth Group of Nova Scotia and she began writing poetry, taking part in cultural exchange trips, learning about team building and leadership skills, and developing scripts for Talent Showcases at her school and in the community. She is a graduate of the Dalhousie Theatre Professional Actor Training Program, and with the aid of Canada Council, she completed an internship at Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia PA in 1997.

Anne-Marie’s extensive background spans from her love for Youth, Arts and Culture. She was a member of Acapella singing sensation, Four The Moment, for twelve years. This Nova Scotia based singing group, had international acclaim and was credited with receiving the first African Canadian Artist Of The Year Award at the East Coast Music Awards. The Rebels With A Cause Community Development Award, The African Nova Scotian Music Association (ANSMA – Pioneer Award and Artist Of The Year Award). Four The Moment has performed everywhere from Germany in E Motion Festival to the St. Lucia Jazz Festival to Lincoln Center New York, and all across Canada. They peformed for Desmond Tutu at the Halifax Metro Centre and were the opening act for Dr. Maya Angelou at Roy Thompson Hall years ago and accepted that honor once again at her request on Mon. Sept 29th, 2003, at the Sky Dome Theatre in Toronto.

Outside of the group Anne-Marie has achieved many things. She founded her own company Imani Enterprises founded in Nova Scotia in 1996. She was the first ever African Canadian to perform at the prestigious North Carolina National Black Theatre Festival in 2001, where she got rave reviews for her one woman show, “Waiting To Explode”, and a mention in the New York Theatre Paper; Backstage as “one of the acts from abroad who stood out”. She has starred in such plays as “Whylah Falls” by George Elliot Clarke, where she has played both Amarantha and the sexy vamp Selah with Eastern Front Theatre Company and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. She had the honor of portraying local playwright Djanet Sears, in “Afrika Solo” with the Black Theatre Workshop in Montreal. She is a dynamo on stage and this has been proven in her many one-woman shows which were always declared “Fringe Hits” in the Atlantic Fringe Festival from 1998 – 2001. In 2002 Anne-Marie was the opening act for the Harry Jerome Awards where she wrote and performed the Afrocentric version of the ever popular I Am Canadian commercials. Because of this it was later requested for her to perform the same piece for Lincoln Alexander at a ceremony with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation to honor his lifetime achievements, and thus she became one of the widely known spoken word artists in Toronto.

Anne-Marie has worked at CBC radio in Toronto for well over two years doing comedic commentaries, and artistic treatments of news and current affairs; In 2003 her first national radio documentary “Flat Belly Blues” aired on CBC’s Outfront, and in 2004 was aired on BBC Radio 4. Presently she is still a freelancer for various CBC radio shows and she has just finished her second documentary entitled, “The Irony Of The Artist”. She has been doing school shows, project development, and workshops in the school system and for community based groups since 1993, starting out in Nova Scotia and now branching out to Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. This past year she launched her new school tour, “Artivationally Speaking!” This show deals with topics such as peer pressure, bullying, racism, and the influence of pop culture on today’s youth. She uses music, dance, rap, spoken word and storytelling to get a positive message across. Anne-Marie was a member of Minister Sheila Copps’ National Steering Committee on Diversity and Culture in Canada in 2003, and has been an active supporter and performer at each of the Innoversity Creative Summits- An international media summit held in Toronto. This year she not only performed but she was also the Entertainment Coordinator/Creative Consultant for Innoversity, and it was said that “This was the best year for entertainment!” She performed for Harborfront’s Omiala Festival in July, revamping her improvised one woman show “I’m Just Sittin At The Derby Waitin For My Ship To Come In”, for Irie Festival at Nathan Phillips Square in August taking the stage by storm with her lyrical and powerful spoken word style… and her new one woman show was part of the late night series in Festival Antigonish.

Anne-Marie Woods is unstoppable, she has some new ventures including “Wedding Theatre”, where she will write and perform theatrical pieces for weddings, writing for a CBC animation series, and bringing some new and exciting events to the Toronto Arts and Culture Scene. Her future plans are to get her young company The Imani Women’s Artistic Project – an interdisciplinary arts training program for young women of African descent up and running in Toronto, producing her spoken word CD, with the help of Nick Davis from CBC in Toronto, and getting her scripts and poetry published.

“Often described as a One Woman Wonder, Anne-Marie Woods, writes, creates, and performs with a passion that is pleasing to all audiences.

· 2000 Canada Council Grants to Individuals/Playwright In Residence

· 2000 African Nova Scotia Music Assoc. Pioneer Artist Award

· 2004 Canada Council Grants to Individuals/Storytelling & Spoken Word

· 1999 African Nova Scotia Music Assoc. Artist Of The Year Award

· 1998 East Coast Music Award for African Canadian Artist of the Year

· 1998 Rebels With A Cause Community Activism Award

· 1997 Nova Scotia Talent Trust (scholarship)

· 1997 Canada Council Long Term Grants to Individuals /Theatre Arts

· 1994 YTV Vocal Spotlight first place award winner

· 1992 Vocal Scholarship for Maritime Conservatory of Music

· 1987 Twin City Motors Talent Contest first place award winner