Miriam Shor
About
Biography
Biography
Few performers ever get to recreate a signature stage role on film, but Miriam Shor was among the lucky ones when she was tapped to play the Croatian-born aspiring drag queen Yitzhak in the feature film "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" (2001). As with her acclaimed stage take on the part, many were duped into believing that this attractive brunette was really a man. Although born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Miriam Shor spent her formative years in Italy where her academic father was teaching and studying. Even after her parents' divorce, she divided her time between Detroit, Michigan (where her mother settled) and Venice, Italy (where her father was living). Around age 12, Shor watched her older sister in a high school production of "Hello, Dolly!" and found her calling. Active in the arts in high school, she was among the first people in the newly formed BFA theater program at the University of Michigan. Even before her junior year, Shor scored her union card when she was cast in an Equity production of "A Man for All Seasons" in Connecticut. Like many, she headed for the Big Apple after graduating college. Unlike most struggling actors, Shor didn't have to fall back on waiting tables; in fact, within days of her arrival in NYC, she landed a spot in the chorus of a touring edition of "Fiddler on the Roof" starring Theodore Bikel. In 1994, she hooked up with composer Stephen Trask and actor John Cameron Mitchell and debuted as Yitzhak in workshops of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Playing a male with desires to be a drag queen who ends up married to the titular frontwoman for a rock band, Shor landed a gift of a part. Most audience members who saw the show in its various incarnations could not believe that it was actually a woman playing the long-haired, bearded, embittered roadie/backup singer. She remained with the project through its various incarnations, including a triumphal 1998 Off-Broadway opening and the 2001 feature adaptation. As if to prove she wasn't just a one-character wonder, though, Shor found work in films and TV. She offered a fine comic turn as the leading lady's college roommate in the Sundance-screened "Let It Snow/Snow Day" (2000) and made her TV series debut as the irreverent sidekick to a woman involved with a much younger man in the short-lived ABC sitcom "Then Came You" (also 2000). Shor was cast as a sultry hostess in the remake of "Bedazzled" and made a second attempt at TV stardom as the title character's confidante and potential love interest in "Inside Schwartz" (NBC, 2001). Despite mixed reviews (most of which praised the actress' work), that series was cancelled after only nine airings. Undoubtedly, Shor would eventually find a role equal to that of Yitzhak, whether it be on stage or screen.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Life Events
1990
At age 19, obtained union card (Actors Equity) with appearance in "A Man for All Seasons" at a Connecticut theater (date approximate)
1994
Originated role of Yitzhak, a Croatian roadie/backup singer, in stagings of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
1997
Film debut in "Flushed"
1998
Reprised Yitzhak in Off-Broadway production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
2000
Played the college roommate of the heroine of "Let It Snow/Snow Day"; premiered at Sundance; released theatrically in 2001
2000
TV series debut as regular playing the best friend of a newly single woman who becomes involved with a younger man in the short-lived ABC sitcom "Then Came You"
2000
Acted in the remake of "Bedazzled"
2001
Appeared in the Encores! staging of "Hair" in NYC
2001
Returned to sitcoms playing supporting role in the short-lived NBC series "Inside Schwartz", starring Breckin Meyer
2001
Reprised stage role of Yitzhak in the film version of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"; premiered at Sundance where film won several awards
2002
Cast as Mary in the Kennedy Center production of "Merrily We Roll Along"
Family
