Jo Vannicola is an Emmy award-winning actor, Canadian Screen Award nominee (2023), ACTRA, Genie, and Gemini award nominee, author, and advocate. Jo is the recipient of the Margaret Trudeau Advocacy Award (2021), the Blaze Award (2021), and the Leslie Yeo Award (2019).

Jo’s memoir, All We Knew but Couldn’t Say, was shortlisted for the nonfiction Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in 2020. Their book was featured in The Word On The Street, Toronto International Festival of Authors, and LitFest in Edmonton. Jo was interviewed by Shelagh Rogers on CBCs The Next Chapter, the Globe and Mail, CTV Your Morning, Global News, House on Crouse Newstalk 1010, the Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, Xtra Magazine, and beyond. It was chosen as one of the top 40 books to read by CBC and included in 41 top memoirs by Bustle Magazine.

Jo was the founder the Director of Youth Out Loud, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness about child abuse and youth rights (2004–2009). Jo is passionate about LGBTQ2+ rights and representation in film and media, and spends much of their time working on creative and social projects that elevate women and the LGBTQ2+ communities.

Jo is the founding chair of outACTRAto, which has created numerous initiatives and outreach for LGBTQ2s+ artists, including the Queer Your Stories short film competition in partnership with the Inside Out Film Festival.

Jo has also produced, written, and acted in two short films, Trashed and Pink Elephant.