about elizabeth
Hi, I’m Elizabeth.
As far back as I can remember, acting has been a part of who I am and offered me a safe place to explore, create and thrive after surviving a traumatic childhood.
Although born into a successful family that looked ideal from the outside, it belied an abusive home. I lived in fear of my father’s uncontrollable outbursts and constant verbal attacks. It was my grandmother’s unconditional love that kept me afloat. But there were scars. I went through a dark period until getting the help I needed when I was 22.
That’s when I learned the skills to take control of my life. Those skills allowed me to go on, and to experience and enjoy success.
When I was 10 years old, I managed to convince my parents to schlep me from Westchester into the city every Saturday to take improv acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Later, I apprenticed at The Williamstown Theater Festival and then became a company member. In college, I auditioned for an acting scholarship at the University of Texas in Austin. Because I’m dyslexic, my SAT scores were low, but I had talent that earned me the scholarship. I went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and then was accepted into the acting program at The Yale School of Drama, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA).
Acting reaches and touches people, makes them laugh, feel emotion and perhaps even makes them grow. And because of my upbringing, I have the perspective, sensitivity and unique aptitude to get inside the head of each character I play and see the world through their eyes. This is what has shaped me into an authentic and skilled actor.
I’ve played many diverse roles including Dr. Vivien Bering in WIT, for which I received a Best Actress Connecticut Critics Circle nomination. I was quoted in The New York Times saying, “What you want (as an actor) is to play these amazing human beings, more amazing than you are, and ‘now is the time for kindness,’ Dr. Bering says. I think that is the most beautiful line in the play." Kindness is a choice, and I believe it is all we really have to carry us through. Read the article here.
I hold both American and Canadian passports, have lived in Europe and speak a bit of German, Spanish and French. After Yale, I took 20 years off from acting to lean into life, learn about myself and grow as a person. After serving on the board of the Outfest LGBTQ Film Festival, I found that supporting diversity and inclusion are chief passions of mine.
Life is too short not to do what we love, and what we are born to do, all reasons I have returned to this inspiring art form.