Claudia Shear Biography

Ms. Shear started her theatre career with her one-woman play, Blown Sideways Through Life, a comedy that chronicled the 64 jobs she supported herself with before her acting career took off. Shear received a special Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination for writing and starring in the play. She followed Sideways with Dirty Blonde, which originated at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1999 before going on to Broadway. The play received five Tony nominations, including Best Play and Best Actress in a Play nods for Shear, and Direction of a Play for James Lapine, who staged the production. In between her stage work, Shear appeared in the HBO Movie, Earthly Possessions. She also had small roles in It Could Happen To You and Living Out Loud. She appeared as the “fake Monica” in a 1994 episode of NBC’s Friends. Shear has also written various pieces for The New York Times, Vogue, Glamour, Travel and Leisure, Psychology Today, and the online magazine Underwire.