BIO
Oshini Wanigasekera is a Toronto based director, actor, animator, dancer and illustrator.
Oshini Wanigasekera is a Toronto based director, actor, animator, dancer and illustrator.
Oshini was born
in Calgary, Alberta. She trained as a dancer at the Ailey School
and Dance Theatre of Harlem School in New York. In 2011 she was
awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award in the performing arts by the province
of Alberta. Oshini has performed for Brooklyn Ballet, Collage Dance Collective, Neville Dance Theatre, The Francesca Harper Project, Eglevsky Ballet, Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre, The Albano Ballet, and choreographers, Robert Garland, Jeremy McQueen, Nathan Trice, and Julia Gleich.
In 2014, Oshini founded Teeny Trina Inc. Starting with a series of watercolor paintings, her ballet greeting card line expanded and has been sold by dance retailers across the United States. She has since illustrated for web and books.
Oshini completed her studies in 3D and 2D animation at Seneca College in Toronto. She went on to work as a 3D animator on the Disney series, Fancy Nancy, at Snowball Studios. She was also a traditional 2D animator at Little Blackstone Studio for the Netflix series, Grand Army, and the point-and-click video game, Voodoo Detective. As a freelance animator, she worked on award-winning short films and several original feature films by HighballTV, including a 5 minute sequence for The Mother Of All Shows, starring Wendy Malick . She is the animation director and storyboard artist for "The Christmas Witch Trial of La Befana" starring Anjelica Huston and directed by Melissa D'Agostino and Matthew Campagna.
Oshini was selected by the Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) for their Anti-racism Artist Residency. Her resulting animated short, I Can't Do This Anymore, premiered at the TAIS Animation Showcase in Nov 2024 and screened at TAAFI in 2025. She was also a finalist in the recognized film competition, So You Think You Can Pitch at the 2024 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, where she pitched her upcoming animated short film, The Frontrunner.
Oshini has worked as an actor since 2017 and is an ACTRA union member. Her television appearances include The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu), Titans (HBO), Workin' Moms (CBC) and Sheriff Country (CBS). Oshini wrote and directed the film, What I Meant To Say, which won Best Short at CineFAM Film Festival in 2021. She wrote, directed, and starred in her one-woman stage show, Brown People Can't Be Ballerinas, which premiered at the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival in 2023.
In her spare time Oshini has worked in arts education and directed community theatre productions. She serves on the board of Directors for the Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) and is an instructor at Seneca College. She loves to do watercolour urban sketching and thrifting. Visit her IMDb for more information.
MISSION
As a Sri Lankan Canadian, I had many obstacles to overcome both in finding my identity and pursuing my dream of performing professionally. I developed a passion for speaking about finding purpose and compassion for the self.
In 2014 I created The Brown Girl Project, an educational outreach program that premiered in Sri Lanka. I was training and working in leading multi-cultural dance institutions that were created to address racial inequalities. These performance and teaching experiences inspired me to broaden their vision to people of my own ethnicity. The Brown Girl Project was designed to open discussion about expanding opportunities for women of colour and inspiring young people to pursue their dreams. It included a classical ballet performance, a dance class, and an open discussion at no cost to participants or participating schools.
As an actor and film maker, I am driven by the need to see women and non-binary people of colour in media and film. South Asian women are still breaking through many of these barriers. I look forward to seeing our stereotypical media presence become a thing of the past.