Sarah Jean was southern born and northern bred. She was born in Richmond, Virginia, but moved with her parents to Maryland when she was 3. As she was turning 7, her family moved to Philadelphia where she graduated from high school.
She was named Sarah Jean because each parent had one sister. Although she goes by Sarah Jean, a lot of friends call her SJ, a nickname that originated in college.
From a very early age, Sarah Jean was teaching, reading and writing. She taught all kinds of things in all kinds of capacities. She tutored peers in junior high and high school. For two years during college, she taught under-privileged inner city children in an after school and a summer program. Later she taught in the Junior Achievement Program, her favorite students being the young teens who were in a special school for all pregnant girls.
Sarah Jean loved the theatre and volunteered to usher so she could see shows for free. Since she was very capable and handled herself well, she was asked to stage manage, and for several years, worked non-stop on such plays as Noel Coward's Misanthrope, other classical plays and some cutting edge work of the time. You see, Sarah Jean had always been around the stage, performing in high school and even studying electives in college, but she did not realize that she could act and make it a career. While striking one of the last shows upon which she worked as a stage manager, the artistic director of the company challenged her and asked her, "Why aren't you on the stage? Are you afraid?" She said that she wasn't, and he cast her as the lead in a staged reading the very next week. She has been acting ever since. She even taught acting to children at the request of parents and a studio.
Soon after, Sarah Jean moved to Los Angeles.
