Ila Dreessen
Ila Dreessen is a born-and-raised Washingtonian. She has been active in the performing arts since childhood, and is a passionate storyteller. She spent much of her youth on stage and was bitten by the acting bug.
She has a degree in Music Performance from the University of Washington, but moved to Florida after graduating to work at Walt Disney World. While there, she started to dip her toes into the Florida film industry and found a new avenue for acting and storytelling. She moved to Los Angeles and pursued film both on-screen and behind the camera, but eventually found herself longing for the tall evergreens again and moved back up to Washington with her spouse. Since being back in the PNW, she has been actively seeking to build a strong community of creatives and friends to make art with. With the help of her wonderful friends, she has started producing plays and musicals at one of her childhood theaters.
However, she hasn’t had much opportunity to continue to work on film or to act on camera until getting connected with the Emergence Filmmakers Program. She is so lucky to have built a network of wonderful creative women who also share her passion for filmmaking and storytelling, and is thrilled to get to tell modern queer and Indigenous stories. Beyond the arts, she also enjoys hanging out with her chickens, ducks, cats, and dog on the small hobby farm she shares with her family.