Jean St Clair received the Lifetime Award for Outstanding Contribution to Stage and Screen during the 9th Film & TV Awards at Deaffest 2024. This award highlights Deaf Actress Jean’s impactful work in both theatre and film as well as the enduring influence and the inspiration she continues to provide to both D/deaf and hearing audiences. It’s a well-deserved recognition of her dedication and talent in the industry!
Jean St Clair is from East London and is an award-winning actress and a British Sign Language creative consultant for stage, TV, and film.
Jean’s extensive career spans over 50 years, taking her abroad to the USA, Australia, South Africa, and Europe! She has taken on a multitude of roles including actress, BSL consultant, storyteller, presenter, writer, director, and even a whirl dancer (at the 2012 Paralympic opening ceremony!).
In the early years of Jean’s theatre career, she trained and worked with the British Theatre of the Deaf, Australian Theatre of the Deaf, and the National Theatre of the Deaf in America. In the 1980s she took on the lead role in ‘Children of a Lesser God’ in the West End and in the 1990s a variety of roles including acting, storytelling, and presenting for Television including Tyne Tees’ ’Sign On’, BBC’s ’See Hear’ and ‘Hands Up’, as well as featuring in some commercials.
Jean co-produced and starred in Frozen (2014) with Fingersmiths, a visual physical touring theatre which she co-founded with Jeni Draper and Kaite O’Reilly and appeared as Lyapkin-Tyapkin in ’The Government Inspector’ (2016) which was followed by a UK tour. In 2019 Jean performed as Queen Elizabeth for HamletScenen’s Richard III play in Denmark.
Off the stage, Jean has undertaken a variety of acting roles in films including ‘Hands Solo’ which was screened at Deaffest 2009, ’If I Don’t Lose, I’ll Lose’ which is her directional debut, ’Signs of an Affair’, ‘The Banishing’, ‘Veneer’, and in series such as ‘Deaf Funny’, ‘Four Deaf Yorkshire Men’, and ‘Coffee Morning Club’ which was premiered on Film4 in 2023. (You can catch a glimpse of Jean in an episode of the Crown Court series (1982) here!)
Since the early 2000s Jean has taken on the role of BSL consultant, utilising her valuable skills and knowledge of stage, TV, and film. Her work includes BBC’s ’Silent Witness’, ‘Eastenders’, CBBC’s ‘Horrible Histories’ (series 9), ’The Strays’ film, Mutt & Jeff Pictures/BSLBT’s ’Small World’ series, and lately Disney’s animation ‘Little Mermaid (BSL)’.
Jean is no stranger to Deaffest, contributing her valuable time and expertise at previous festivals. She was one of the judges on the panel for Deaffest 2009’s Film & TV Awards as well as for the Visual Vernacular Competition at Deaffest 2013. She was also one of the panellists for both the Women Filmmakers and BSLBT seminars at Deaffest 2015.
Jean was previously nominated for Deaffest 2015 Film & TV Awards’ Best British Film and Best Director for ‘If I Don’t Lose, I’ll Lose’ and nominated for Deaffest 2017’s Best Screenwriter and Best Actress for ’Signs of an Affair’.
Deaffest 