Paula Shaw

Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Paula began acting as a teenager, playing lead roles onstage at NYU's Bronx campus (before women were enrolled there) while still in high school. Upon graduating from prestigious Bard College on full scholarships, earning her B.A. in Dramatic Arts, she entered the revolutionary off- and off-off-Broadway theatre scene of the 1960s. While playing "Lizzie" during an off-off-Broadway production of "The Rainmaker," she met fellow actor James Mendenhall, with whom she partnered and ran the Playhouse-on-the-Mountain, a summer theatre on Mt. Cathalia in Ellenville, NY, for three seasons. There, Paula played leading roles in iconic shows such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Rain." After working on and around Broadway, and touring in shows during the late 60s, the highly ground-breaking and controversial play "Geese," written by Gus Weill and produced by Mendenhall, brought her to California for the show's West Coast debut. After relocating to Los Angeles, Paula became a Lifetime Member and Moderator of The Actors Studio, and an acting teacher at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Paula was also a member of the iconic improv group Synergy Trust for four years in the early 70s. She made extensive acting appearances in the 70s and 80s on television, including notable appearances on "The Bob Newhart Show," "Barney Miller," and "Three's Company." Pursuing her own self-discovery quest, Paula led est Graduate Seminars in Los Angeles for seven years in the 70s and 80s, and co-ran the Actors Institute of Los Angeles in the 1980s. During this era of her life, she appeared in multiple feature films including "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" directed by Peter Masterson, and "Witchfire" starring Shelley Winters. After leading her colleague Dan Fauci's Mastery of Acting workshops, she brought that workshop to Esalen Institute in 1988, eventually morphing it into her own self-expression workshop for "civilians" as well as actors known as THE MAX. Paula led THE MAX acting workshop for over 30 years at Esalen and in Vancouver, B.C., as well as overseas in England, Germany, and The Netherlands. Paula also taught Improv Theatre Games classes at Strasberg Institute, as well as at Esalen, and continued her participation at The Actors Studio in the Acting Unit and the Playwrighting Unit. Paula's television and film career flourished in the Vancouver, B.C., Canada acting scene beginning in the late-80s and early-90s, where she worked on numerous productions including "21 Jump Street" and "The X-Files." Additionally, Paula won more roles in high-profile films, including her featured appearance in "Insomnia" starring Al Pacino, as well as in the cult-film hit "Freddy vs. Jason." Her recent television series credits include a running role on the miniseries "Terminal City," a lead role on the sitcom "Mr. Young" for four seasons, and as Andie MacDowell's mother on "Cedar Cove." She also enjoys performing voiceovers for animation, video games, documentary narration, commercials, and books-on-tape. As of late, Paula has become the Hallmark Channel's "Grandma Queen," regularly appearing in that network's Christmas and off-season Movies of the Week, often as the pivotal, comedic, and wisdom-dispensing Grandmother/Mentor.