Biography

Born and raised in a French farm, Flo Ankah is a versatile performer. She moved to New York City to hone her skills in theater, opera voice, on-camera acting, and graduated from the Merce Cunningham Studio in modern dance, as well as long-form improvisation from the Upright Citizens’ Brigade. Ankah is the founder of Simple Production, developing collaborative stage and film works.

French Actress

Flo Ankah is a triple threat performer acting in film, stage and television (AEA, SAG-AFTRA). She made her Off-Broadway debut performing the solo show Edith Piaf Alive for The Public Theater in NYC and starred in the musical Loving the Silent Tears, directed by Vincent Paterson at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. She acted at the Inwood Shakespeare Festival, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Ted Minos, and at the Guggenheim Museum under the direction of Meredith Monk. Flo was Sylvie in the first reading of Best Friends by Jack Gindi, read opposite Israel Horowitz for Richard Vetere’s novel Baroque, and worked in experimental plays (Dance Theater Workshop, Dixon Place). She acted with Helen Hunt, Tuc Watckins, Patti Cohenour, and for directors Alice Jankell, Jim Jarmusch and Jonathan Demme. Fully bilingual, Flo enjoys working with accents and is the voice of luxury brand commercials.

Nightclub Singer

Floanne is an authentic French chanteuse. She sings vintage tunes with a modern twist, trains as a coloratura soprano with April Evans, and writes her own songs (ASCAP). She sold out Joe’s Pub, The NY Botanical Garden, Triad Theater, The Metropolitan Room (2012 monthly residency), and LA’s Shrine Auditorium. The critically acclaimed solo shows she created with directors Lina Koutrakos and Isengart—Floin’ to America, Love is French and Edith Piaf Alive, were featured on NPR and French national television: France 5, M6, TV5 Monde. She learned her craft as a songstress performing with virtuosi Jazz musicians Joe Cohn, Ian James, Ray Parker, and alongside vocalists Liz Callaway, Debbie Gravitte, Jody Watley, Jon Secada, Kiril Kulish and Mark Janicello. She can be heard regularly at Jules Bistro, The Standard Hotel, Harmonie Club, Symphony Space and more. Floanne is an avid student and loves to experiment with voice, rhythm and movement.

Experimental Director

Ankah is currently showing Boudoir Chit-Chat, an experimental documentary about women artists, and working on S’avoir, a feature documentary about the French countryside she grew up in. She started her artistic career in France with two photographic exhibitions Le Quotidien Des Rails and Regards Croisés. She studied modern dance under scholarship and choreographed, fusing voice and movement, in the underground performance scene: Movement Research at Judson Church, the Merce Cunningham Studio, the HERE Arts Center. Her attraction to challenge and technology brought her to filmmaking, creating award-winning experimental films: ONE WAY and Waterfront Access?. She has produced films shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Director’s Guild of America and Life with Flow, the 3D webisode she stars in.