Zann was born in Sydney, Australia, the daughter of Janice, a high schoolteacher, and Paul Zann, a professor. Her great-grandfather, named Zaninovich, came to Australia from Croatia. She emigrated with her parents to Canada in 1968, first to Regina, Saskatchewan, then to Truro, Nova Scotia, and later graduated from Cobequid Educational Centre, a high school in Truro, which was noted for its student musical productions. She attended York University in Toronto where she studied drama, fine arts and political science. Zann worked as a screen, television, stage, and voice actress, and appeared in numerous television shows, films, radio, and animated series. As an actor, she is best known for providing the voice of Rogue on the 1992 animated television adaptation of the X-Men comic book series. After living in Halifax, Toronto, London, Stockholm, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and New York City, Zann moved back to her adopted hometown of Truro in 2008. That fall she started a community campaign to restore a historic former academic building in downtown Truro, the Provincial Normal College, into a cultural centre. She raised $62,000.00 for a feasibility study following which the four-story, 24,000 sq feet provincially designated Victorian brick building was repurposed to become the centre point of downtown Truro - the town’s new Central Colchester Regional Library, with a skating rink in front during winter months. During her first four years as a backbencher in the first NDP government in Nova Scotia Zann was appointed Ministerial Assistant for three positions: Culture & Heritage, Environment & Climate Change, and Deputy Premier - working to reinstate the Nova Scotia Arts Council and improve the Film Tax-Credit for the film & TV industry. As a first-time opposition member Zann has been NDP spokesperson for Education, Environment, Status of Women, Human Rights Commission, Aboriginal Affairs & Truth & Reconciliation, Agriculture, Advanced Education, African NS Affairs, Gaelic Affairs. Each summer she produces and directs a community theatre production for the Truro Theatre Society, which boasts a cast of all ages - including students from local Elementary, Junior and High schools. To date this includes Our Town, The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and the very popular free public productions “Shakespeare in Victoria Park”: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, and Macbeth.
Political career
On April 8, 2009, Zann successfully ran for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party nomination in the riding of Truro-Bible Hill. On the same day, an employee of the Liberal Party leaked a topless photo of her to the media from her appearance in The L Word. Zann was elected in the 2009 provincial election and served as the Ministerial Assistant for the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Heritage. She was subsequently re-elected in the 2013 provincial election to represent the reconfigured electoral district, now called Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River. In that election the NDP was reduced to seven seats in the Legislature and third party status. Zann served as the NDP critic for Aboriginal Affairs, Community Culture and Heritage, Community Services, Education, Human Rights Commission/Status of Women, and Seniors and Disabled. Zann has also taken a lead position in regard to environmental racism and has introduced Bill-111, the Environmental Racism Prevention Act, to address this issue in Nova Scotia. On June 12, 2015, Zann announced her bid for the leadership of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. On February 27, 2016, Zann was defeated in her leadership bid, losing to Gary Burrill on the second ballot. On June 9, 2019, Zann announced she would seek the Liberal nomination to succeed retiring Liberal MP Bill Casey in Cumberland—Colchester for the 2019 federal election. She sat as an independent member in Nova Scotia's legislature as she sought the nomination. Zann won the federal Liberal nomination on July 27, 2019, defeating three other candidates including Bill Casey's constituency assistant. She resigned her seat on September 12.
