Tia Dionne Hodge-Jones is a writer, actor, director-producer, and acting instructor. She is the author of Play. Speak., a workbook and collection of 40 challenging monologues for young actors ages 13 to 18 (OddInt Media, publisher, May 29, 2014 release.) Tia Dionne’s monologues and essays can also be found in New Monologues for Women by Women, Volume II and Black Comedy - 9 Plays.

 

She is also the inaugural recipient of the Adrienne Kennedy Society’s Louis Kent-Hope Award for Excellence in Creative Writing & Poetry, and a National Poetry Slam Team Champion (Cleveland Team). Her Cleveland Triology, Puddin’, A Spider in Wine and Love… Like Lemonade received workshops by New Jersey Dramatists & Waterfront Ensemble (Hoboken, NJ). Puddin’ , was accepted and produced at the New Perspectives Theatre Company Voices From the Edge 6.0 & 7.0 Festivals (NY, NY), was an alternate for the NY International Fringe Festival in 2003, was accepted into the 2009 New Moon Reading Series at Luna Stage (Montclair, NJ,) and the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival. A Spider in Wine received a reading at The Classical Theatre of Harlem's Playwright's Playground (January 2014).  Michael Dean Morgan will direct Motherhood in Black and White (& Red All Over)-- her new play with co-writer, Kristin Carbone-- this spring at Rowan University. She earned her M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University in 199, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, New York Women in Film and Television, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and the National Association of Professional Women.

 

As an actress, Tia Dionne has appeared in numerous national and regional on-camera and voice-over/radio commercials. She has appeared on Forever, 666 Park Avenue, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order SVU, Conviction, as well as the pilot, The Third Degree, for Fox. In 1998, she received a Best Actress nomination by the Independent Reviewers of New England for her performance as “Veronica” in New Repertory Theatre’s production of Athol Fugard’s Valley Song. She has appeared as the recurring characters “Angel Mel” and “Amelia Bennett” on ABC’s One Life to Live, and was a panelist on Cafemom.com’s Coffee Shop Confessions. She can next be seen in Nicole Holofcener’s Netflix film, Land of Steady Habits.

 

Tia Dionne is the creator of the original dramedy web series, Where’s the Love (formerly titled, Babygirl Blues and Other Colored People), which had its premier screening at the August 2015 Reel Soul Film Festival held at the National Black Theatre in Harlem. She also wrote, produced and directed two short films for the inaugural NYC Midnight Movie Madness Filmmaking Competition (2002), and was awarded the First Runner-up prize for Once Upon A Once Upon…; a film that was chronicled by filmmaker, Stuart Entner (Maysles Films) as part of his documentary, Midnight Madness (September 2003 premier). In 2003, Tia Dionne associate produced Crutch; marking filmmaker Rob Moretti’s directorial debut (HP Productions, LLC., in association with Illuminare Entertainment 2 (Distribution) and Ardustry Entertainment.

 

She also directed and produced the pilot episode of UnCorked: A Slightly Irreverent Look at Wine for Wine Ventures, LLC, in association with Fulton Street Films. The project debuted at New Filmmakers Docs, Mocks &More in 2006, and was an Official Selection at MemFest (2006). UnCorked also garnered Tia Dionne a Directors Citation from the Black Maria Film Festival in the spring of 2007. She has since directed
episodes for BN4REAL.TV, and has produced/directed live events and video projects for America Scores and Veterans Across America. Her pilot—The Whiskey—was an Official Selection at the Producers Guild of America Lab at the Sundance Film Festival (2009).
She is a proud wife and mother, and resides with her husband and daughter in Bloomfield, NJ.