Shannon McDonough Talks About....Shannon McDonough

Written By: Shannon McDonough
Intro By: Ken Hulsey

What is it about Minnesota girls? Monster Island News readers are probably thinking that I am obsessed with them or something. Over the past couple of weeks I have written a lot about both Rachel Grubb and Scarlet Salem, two mainstays of the independent film and modeling scene in "The Land of a Thousand Lakes."

Well, surprise, I have another Minnesota beauty to introduce you to, Shannon McDonough, an up and coming model and actress who first came to my attention in Christopher Mihm's retro classic, "It Came From Another World." I thought that the young actress did a great job as Julie Ann St. Marie-Jackson in the film, and I had wanted to learn more about her for some time. As luck would have it, our paths did eventually cross and she was kind enough to write a little bio about herself and send us a few photos.

In an interesting side note, I should mention that young actresses and models generally don't have big time agents and publicity machines backing them up, so they kinda have to handle those tasks on their own. Such is the case here, where Shannon actually had to type up her own bio, something she was kinda embarrassed to do.

Of course, I could have taken her bio and rewritten it here, but I honestly thought it was sweet....and kinda cute.....so I decided to post it as-is.

Hopefully Shannon won't mind:

Here's a bit of a bio. I feel kind of silly writing about myself... :)

Shannon McDonough began her performance career by taking ballet and tap dance classes from Barbi Lee School of Dance when she was practically still in diapers. Her first role was as a mouse in the annual production of The Nutcracker eventually working her way up to Fritz and, finally, the Mouse King. She got into musical theatre as a freshman in high school and that was, as they say, when she was bitten by the acting bug. She quickly got into plays and theatre classes and, although she was terrible at first (truly terrible), there was no stopping her. High school theatre then turned into community theatre which is where she gained a majority of her experience. Some of her favorite roles include: Corie Bratter (Barefoot in the Park), Mollie Ralston (The Mousetrap), Jacqueline de Severac (Murder on the Nile) and Elvira (Blithe Spirit).

Shannon branched into film during her community theatre days, starting with short student films and finally landing her first role in a feature length film: Julie Ann St. Marie-Jackson in Christopher Mihm's It Came From Another World!, reprising the role recently for a cameo in Mihm's latest creation: Terror From Beneath the Earth. It was a perfect fit since melodrama is one of her favorite genres and she loves the style of the '50's, it was an incredibly fun project to be a part of. Look for it on Netflicks. After It Came From Another World! she was booked for Ric McCloud's Unholy Reunion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYVYrM1v--Y), a horror film which was incredibly bloody and sticky. While working on Unholy, Shannon met Jarrod Crooks, who played her fiance in the film. They decided to team up and create the most kick ass independent action film that would really get people to take notice. And that film would be the currently in production Thieves Like Us, premiering August 22nd in Wausau, WI. The date of the Minneapolis premiere is still TBA. View the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1546QZhzVs0.

Shannon has done several commercials as well, including Buffalo Wild Wings and the 2006 1st Place Grainbelt Beer commercial (Wingman's MVP). She also currently performs as a back-up singer and dancer for the band Ovation: A Salute to the Music of Prince. Keep an eye out, she won't stop until she rules the world :)