Allison L. Payne

Allison L . Payne was born and raised in Oakland California , where she lived amongst a wide range of cultures, and eclectic characters. She embraces and works to embody a spirit of freedom, love, and passion in life and especially in her work as an Actress.

Allison began acting at the age of 11 and felt the Magic of it for the first time in the role of the Shop Keeper in a youth production of West Side Story.  She was a part of many theatrical productions throughout her junior high and high school years. She blossomed from a shy, awkward child, into a young lady with purpose.

Allison’s recent credits include central roles in: San Leandro Players production of Shakespeare’s “Pericles”, Cuttingball Theater’s West Coast premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks “Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World” and Shotgun Players, premiere of Marcus Gardley’s, “Love is a Dream House in Lorin.”  

She is very excited to be working on this current film project, “Can’t Take You Anywhere,” with an amazingly talented cast and crew. Allison looks forward to continuing her work of making people laugh, cry, snicker, gasp in disbelief, and just Feel what it feels like to be Human.  She is humbled by the blessing of being able to work in this business.

After high school Allison attended Clark Atlanta University , where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. After a couple of years of incredibly powerful and emotionally wrenching work with abused and neglected children, Allison decided to go back to school and purse a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy.

It turns out that the Drama Therapy program ultimately led her back to her one true passion; Acting. After writing, co-directing, producing  and performing a Self- Revelatory Performance based on her life and personal struggles, Allison ultimately realized that while she was committed to helping other people, her true calling was to do so through the craft of Acting.

Fun Fact#1: Allison loves to Cook. The catch, she loves to pretend that she has her own cooking show while doing her best Julia Child's impersonation.

Fun Fact #2: Allison used to sport a large magnificent Afro. One day she decided that it was time for a change and went to a salon that shall remain nameless, to get a hair cut. Well long story short, the hair cut was awful. Fearful of getting another shop to fix it, she took the clippers in her own hands, and thought she was doing a great job until the clippers took an unexpected turn. She gasped in horror as she noticed a large patch of skin showing on the front of her scalp. Being one to live on the edge and never look back, Allison took those clippers and shaved her head completely bald. You’d think she would have cried as she looked upon her bald pale scalp, but instead she laughed hysterically and said to herself, “ It’s only hair . . . It’ll grow back.” And it did.