Diaan Lawrenson may be better known in South African households as ‘Paula’, for her role in the role in the TV soapie 7de Laan, but she has also very successfully mined her multiple skillset in the entertainment industry, working across all genres as an actor, producer, director and scriptwriter on a host of television shows, short films, feature films, theatre productions and music videos. Diaan started lecturing at AFDA in 2016 and was appointed as Dean of the Cape Town campus in early 2019. She is also the co-founder of the award-winning production company, Jester Productions.
Diaan has played the lead role of ‘Ingrid’ in the film “Raaiselkind”, for which she was nominated at the SAFTA’s 2019, she also acted in box office hit “Susters” directed by fellow AFDA alumnus Corne van Rooyen, she played ‘Megan’ in the film “Table Manners” and starred in the multi-award winning film “Sink”, directed by AFDA alumnus Brett Michael Innes.
Over the last 12 years her production company, Jester Productions has been responsible for productions in theatre, corporate and industrial theatre, DVD production, film and television. Jester has been nominated for various awards including the prestigious Fleur du Cap, Naledi and Fiesta awards and management of Jester Productions have won various Awards including SAFTAS, ATKV Veertjie, YOU Spectacular, Tempo, Fleur du Cap and Naledi Awards
As Dean of Cape Town campus Diaan hopes to share her experiences as an actor, producer, director and scriptwriter with our future industry leaders. “ When I started lecturing at AFDA Cape Town campus I discovered another passion- I realized that I am a student at heart, that I adore being a mentor and so bridging young, dedicated practitioners into the industry.” says Diaan.