Jennifer Cecily Ward-Lealand CNZM (born 8 November 1962) is a New Zealand theatre and film actor, director, teacher and intimacy coordinator.

Her screen credits include the 1993 movie Desperate Remedies as well as appearances in The Footstep Man, the soap Shortland Street and Australian comedy series Full Frontal.

Filmed largely in an Auckland flat, so cramped the cameraman sometimes had to sit on the stove, this tale of working class relationship breakdown would win Ward-Lealand a GOFTA Best Actress Award in 1897.

The same year Ward-Lealand made her big screen debut as nightclub singer Costello – and sang three songs – in Wellington crime thriller Dangerous Orphans.

In 1993 she joined the core company of the Australian comedy TV show "Full Frontal" shooting in Melbourne spending the next two years working on 40 episodes.

[5] Ward-Lealand was a founding board member of Watershed Theatre and a co-founder of the Large Group and the drama school, The Actors’ Program.

[8] Since performing in Hedda Gabler, the final Theatre Corporate production, Ward-Lealand has contributed significant roles to the Silo Theatre, such as Stevie in The Goat or Who is Sylvie by Edward Albee performed in 2005 with her husband Michael Hurst; Martha in "That Face" by Polly Stenham However, her most extensive repertoire has been programmed by the Auckland Theatre Company (ATC), including playing Barbara in the 2010 production of August; Osage County; Ouisa Kitteridge in Six Degrees of Separation; The Witch in Into the Woods; the 2020 online role of Arkadina in ATC's Zoom production of Chekhov's The Seagull.

[9] Ward-Lealand has also made frequent guest appearances in The Basement's Christmas comedies, whether playing Helen Clark or Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

[10] Ward-Lealand's roles in New Zealand plays include Pass it On, The Bach, Via Satellite, The Sex Fiend, Rita and Angus and My Name is Gary Cooper.

[5] Through play readings and workshops, she has also supported the development of local scripts, such as Pankhurst in Red by Dean Parker,[10] or Irene in Flour by Briar-Grace Smith (Centrepoint Theatre's 24-Hour Challenge Online).

[4] Brothers Ward-Lealand has directed a significant range of theatre performances, working first in 2002 with Unitec acting students in a production of The Big River.