Check Out Jinjara Mitchell’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jinjara Mitchell.

Jinjara, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Palm Springs and grew up between the United States and Canada. I always find this question a little tricky to answer without diving into too much detail, but the short version is this: I lost my dad when I was six years old, and although my family appeared outwardly privileged, our home life was full of turmoil. My childhood was confusing, unstable, and shaped by experiences that I only much later learned to name as trauma.
By the time I was twenty, our family home had been foreclosed on, and I left with a single suitcase on a redeye Greyhound bus to start a new life in Vancouver. That was the beginning of everything for me. I started taking acting classes, and not long after, I met my now husband, Jordan. I began booking commercials and voiceover work, and my first on-camera role was on the CW series Arrow. From there, I continued working and eventually landed roles on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Life Sentence with Lucy Hale.
In 2017, Jordan booked the role of Sweet Pea on Riverdale. When the series wrapped its Vancouver shoot, we knew it was time to take the leap and move to Los Angeles to continue building our careers.
In 2023, I wrote and directed my debut short film, The Ornament, which explores childhood trauma and the way children instinctively protect the very parent causing them harm. The film is based on my own early experiences and went on to win several awards, screen at Oscar-qualifying festivals, and play at Palm Springs ShortFest and other festivals around the world. Hearing how deeply the film resonated with audiences gave me the courage to start sharing pieces of my story online—parts of my life I had previously kept hidden.
That openness has launched me into a new chapter I’m incredibly passionate about: showing people that it’s okay to speak honestly about the hardest parts of our lives, to release shame, and to use our past as a source of strength rather than a weakness we should hide. You never know who your story may help.
This mission to turn pain into purpose is also what inspired my husband and me to create The New Players, our acting school and creative community. After years working in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, we realized how isolating the industry can feel—especially for newer actors who lack mentorship or a support system. The New Players combines our professional experience and our passion for community, offering scene study, commercial and film/TV training, one-on-one coaching, live events with industry guests, and a global online space where actors can grow their craft and connect with each other.
Today, I’m an actress, writer, and director—but I’m also an advocate for survivors. I’m committed to using my voice and my work to support others who have experienced family abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and mental health struggles. My journey has taught me that healing and storytelling are deeply connected, and I plan to keep creating projects, communities, and conversations that reflect that.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I think most people who know me now would never guess how chaotic and painful my early life really was. Losing my dad at six set the tone for a childhood filled with instability, trauma, and confusion. On the outside, my family looked privileged, but behind closed doors there was deep dysfunction, neglect, and emotional and psychological abuse. It shaped me in ways I’m still unpacking today.
By my late teens, everything in my life was collapsing—emotionally, financially, and literally. When our family homes were foreclosed on, I had to rebuild my life from scratch. I left with one suitcase, got on a greyhound bus, and started over completely alone in a new city. I was twenty years old with no real support system, no money, and no safety net.
Even once I started acting, the road wasn’t smooth. Like many actors, I faced the usual rejection, uncertainty, and financial instability—but layered on top of old trauma, it often hit harder. Learning to navigate an industry that can be triggering, competitive, and inconsistent while also healing from C-PTSD has been one of the biggest challenges of my life. There were years where simply staying afloat mentally, emotionally, and financially felt like a full-time job.
What changed things for me was therapy, community, and learning to be radically honest with myself about what I had lived through. That honesty eventually made its way into my creative work—especially my short film The Ornament, which allowed me to reclaim my story in a powerful way.
One of the greatest struggles was learning to believe I deserved stability, safety, love, and a future bigger than my past. And that’s part of why The New Players exists today. Jordan and I wanted to build the kind of supportive, grounded, encouraging artistic community that I desperately needed when I was younger. A place where people can grow in their craft, but also feel seen, mentored, and supported as humans.
So no, the road hasn’t been smooth. But every obstacle pushed me toward my purpose. And today, I’m grateful—not for the pain I went through, but for the strength, compassion, and clarity it gave me, and for the ability to turn my story into something that can help others.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an actress, writer, and director, but at the core of everything I do, I’m a storyteller and an advocate for survivors. My work often explores trauma, resilience, mental health, and the quiet emotional landscapes people carry inside themselves. I’m known for being open about my own experiences with C-PTSD and family abuse, and I bring that honesty into my creative work.
As an actor, I’ve worked in film, television, and animation from the CW’s Arrow to Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, to voicing characters on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Acting gave me my foundation, but over the years my voice as a filmmaker has grown just as strong.
In 2023, I wrote and directed my debut short film, The Ornament, which is based on my own childhood and examines the way children instinctively protect parents who are harming them. The film screened at Oscar-qualifying festivals, won several awards, and played at Palm Springs ShortFest. But what meant the most to me were the messages from survivors who saw themselves in it. That response is what I’m most proud of — not the accolades, but the connection.
That experience pushed me to further embrace storytelling as a form of advocacy. I’m now developing my memoir, a TV series, and a doc series. My goal is to create work that is emotionally truthful, healing, and meaningful — projects that give voice to the experiences we’re often taught to hide.
Alongside my creative work, my husband Jordan and I launched The New Players LA, an acting school and creative community rooted in mentorship, transparency, and connection. Having worked in multiple cities across the US and Canada, we saw how isolating the industry can be, especially for new or emerging actors. What sets The New Players apart is that we prioritize not just technique, but humanity — creating a space where actors can grow in their craft while also feeling supported, grounded, and part of a community. Our podcast, My Booking Story, expands on that mission by sharing the real, unfiltered journeys behind actors’ biggest roles.
What sets me apart as an artist is that I don’t separate my work from my lived experience. I bring my full self — the trauma, the healing, the resilience, the humor, the honesty — into everything I create. My goal is never perfection; it’s connection. I believe in using storytelling to empower others, challenge silence, and break generational patterns.
I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to transform some of the most painful parts of my life into something that can help others feel seen, understood, and less alone. That, more than anything, is what drives me.

How do you think about luck?
I believe luck is something we create. We can go through terrible circumstances and decide we’re unlucky, that life is unfair, and allow that belief to dictate how we show up. But I think luck is deeply tied to mindset. If I chose to view everything through the lens of “nothing good ever happens to me,” that would become true in my experience.
Despite the challenges I’ve faced, I choose to see myself as someone good things happen to — someone who is worthy of opportunities, connection, and joy. When I show up with that energy, I find that luck tends to meet me where I am. It’s not about denying the hard things; it’s about refusing to let them define me. For me, luck grows when I stay open, resilient, and willing to keep moving forward.

Pricing:

• Audition Fundamentals Class. January 6th- February 24th $399
• Advanced Commercial Workshop. December 12-14. $249
• Advanced Film &TV Intensive. December 12-14
• Short Film Fundamentals. January 3rd- February 7th. $199

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thenewplayers.com
• Instagram: Jinjara
• Youtube: thenewplayers

Image Credits
Emma K Young Camera, Karolina Turek, Kathlyn Almeida