Bonita Jackson Turner is an actress, writer, teaching artist, and activist based in NYC. She hails from the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” (Minnesota!). Bonita has performed in theatres and festivals in NYC for over ten years. She has also written and performed four one-woman shows. As a former Project HEAL beneficiary, Bonita is delighted and humbled to now be on the Board of the organization that helped to save her life.

As an artist, and graduate from FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training where she obtained her Master’s in Acting, Bonita is passionate about using her artistry to bring truth to light and speak truth to power. It is her hope that the theatre and films she creates will serve to empower, heal, advocate, and bring about tangible justice and change for Black and African-American communities; as well as to talk about and find remedies for unspeakable and unbearable issues experienced by the Majority (aka BIPOC). Bonita’s work seeks to break down barriers not only in the theatre and film industry, but in eating disorder treatment, healthcare, Black mental health, and the Black maternal health crisis.

Bonita is a co-founder of BARE! BARE is an interdisciplinary theatre and film-based organization that empowers artists, by cutting through fear and shame, to create transformative works of theatre and film by diving in with both hands and big love to the depth of human experiences so as to expose truth and give voice to that which is silenced and/or hidden. We tell stories that bare the truth while bearing together. BARE’s film Beneath the Sound won Best Original Story at the 2021 FLOW Film Festival; and our film Drowning Above Water won the WE REEL BLACT Viewer’s Choice Award.

Pronouns: She/Her