Emma Portner
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Emma Portner (born November 26, 1994, in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian professional dancer and choreographer. She began dancing at age three and trained competitively before spending summers with the National Ballet of Canada. She attended Canterbury High School's arts program in Ottawa's dance stream. At 17, she moved to New York City to train at The Ailey School but left after five months to begin her professional career.
By age 20, she had become the youngest woman in history to choreograph a West End musical, Bat Out of Hell. Her short dance film Dancing in the Dark gained wide online attention. She has created choreography for Justin Bieber, including his music video for "Life is Worth Living" (2015) and his Purpose World Tour. Her choreographic commissions have come from institutions including the National Ballet of Canada, the Norwegian National Ballet, GoteborgsOperans Danskompani, the Guggenheim Museum, Jacob's Pillow, Lafayette Anticipations, and the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. She is also a vocalist with the indie music duo Bunk Buddy.
In Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Portner portrayed the spirit form of Gozer, providing the character's physically distinctive and unusual body performance in scenes requiring movement beyond what a conventional actor could portray. Olivia Wilde played Gozer's physical form, while Portner handled the stranger, more supernatural sequences.