Joy Shatz

Netflix and SyFy audiences know Joy Shatz as the sweet, well-intentioned young mom in the wacky single-cam comedy Happy. PopHorror called her "a rising star" for her leading role performance as a wide-eyed but determined investigator in the cult-film trilogy Hell House, LLC. A born and raised New Yorker, Joy began her career at ten years old, singing and dancing in Times Square as part of the kids chorus in Broadway on Broadway. Leaving her street-performances behind her, she went on to study at the Atlantic Theater Company Conservatory as well as training in improv and sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade. Never one to sit and wait for opportunities, she wrote, directed, produced and played 13 different characters when she stepped behind the camera and created Wild Woman, a mockumentary comedy film. An official selection at nine film festivals, Wild Woman went on to garner her multiple awards: Williamsburg International Film Festival awarded her Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking while both the Long Island International Film Expo and the Long Beach International Film Festival recognized her for her work in acting categories. Austin Revolution Film Festival named her "Actress of the Year '' and Long Island's Scared for Your LIIFE Film Festival recognized her as "Best Actress" for her dramatic work in Karen. Joy played the emotionally unstable title role in this thriller loosely based on real-life events. She went on to play a sheltered, bookish young woman who gets a very rude awakening in the film The Improviser. Helmed by the same creative team, she was recognized by the Austin Revolution Film Festival as "Best U.S. Actress." Joy will always be an actress first, but she continues to love writing screenplays and has won Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival's Achievement in Screenwriting as well as the Austin Revolution Film Festival's Screenwriter of the Year (clearly she's got some fans in Austin... next stop SXSW?).