VANESSA HIDARY

Actress/Poet/Playwright/Native New Yorker Vanessa Hidary grew up on Manhattan's culturally diverse Upper West Side, graduating from LaGuardia High School of the Arts and Hunter College. Her experiences as a Sephardic Jew with close friends from different ethnic and religious backgrounds inspired her to write "Culture Bandit," a solo show that chronicles Vanessa's coming of age during the golden age of Hip-Hop and her dedication to fostering understanding and friendship between all people.

"Culture Bandit", was originally produced by LAByrinth Theatre Company (Artistic directors; Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz). It has since played as part of The Roar Theatre Festival at Nuyorican Poets Café, as part of The Downtown Urban Theater Festival, The Los Angeles Women's Theater Festival, the 3rd Annual Hip Hop Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C, The Revolutions Theatre Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and  Makor Arts Center in the “Hip-hop without Borders”, festival and Most recently The Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles. , where Vanessa attended as the Representative. She has aired three times on the “Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam" on HBO, and is featured in the film “The Tribe” which was selected for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival,  2006 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC., and for the 2007Jewish Motifs International Film Festival in Warsaw, Poland, where Vanessa attended as the film’s reprsentative www.tribethefilm.com .She has been featured in The New York Post, Time Out New York, The Jewish Week, Spitkickers.com, The Forward, URB magazine, BUST Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Time Out NY, The Albuquerque Journal, and Lilith Magazine.

Vanessa is a member of the troupe “Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad” , which has been featured  at various NYC venues including Joe’s Pub and Fez Café,  and  is currently touring the U.S. and Canada.

Other performances include: Central Park’s Summerstage opening for “The Lyricist Lounge” with Def Poetry Jam, NBC’s 9/11 tribute “Concert For America,” B.A.M. Café, opened up for the comedian Shang at “Carolines Comedy Club”,“MCC Theater” (Solo Show Representative for “MCC Youth Program”), Princeton University- as part of their evening supporting Black Reparations and Civil Rights Issues, and was a Grand Slam Poetry Finalist at The Nuyorican Poets Café. She frequently tours colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, Princeton University, Cornell University, Middlebury College, Colby State, University of Wisconsin, S.U.N.Y. New Paltz and University of Connecticut.

Vanessa received an M.F.A. in Acting from Trinity Rep Theatre Conservatory. Theatre credits include: “The Whore Of Sheridan Square” at La Mama NYC,  “The Rover”- The Queen’s Company, “As Bees In Honey Drown”- Dreamcatcher Rep, “Hyperactive” at Center Stage/NY, Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”- Trinity Rep Theatre, and Mopsa in “The Winter’s Tale”- New Jersey Shakespeare Festival.