Claire Winters
Creating Characters for Better Living
Welcome
...to my new webhome. Poke around, send me a note...and if you're curious about other places I've been known to frequent, drop by the online acting magazine Brains of Minerva and the acting game Analices.
About
I always wonder what prompts people to say, upon discovering I’m from Florida, “Wow, I’m surprised!”
Ok, maybe I know. I’m thinking they’re thinking, “How did a freckly bluestocking like you survive the sun, the hairspray, the temptation to devote your adolescence to roaming the malls, bleaching your hair & frosting your lips in order to catch the eye of a wayward Frat boy/death-metal devotee/meth dealer?”
Well, let’s see. I found solace playing disenfranchised southern girls in regional and community theater productions; I somehow landed in a couple of writing classes at the local U; I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan; and then I got the hell out of Dodge as soon as I could drive. By 18 I was living in New York City, waitressing and studying at The Michael Howard Studio. I then made my way to the MFA Program at American Conservatory Theater so I could learn how to do this acting thing right.
After graduation I moved back east to settle in New York. Once there, I co-founded a couple of virtuous but now-defunct theater ensembles and acted in plays at The Guthrie Lab, Shakespeare Sedona, The Stamford Center for the Arts, The George Street Playhouse, American Conservatory Theater and in numerous New York theaters. I appeared on screen in the films Slings and Arrows, Filmic Achievement, and Virginity and on television in HBO’s Empire Falls, Guiding Light and As the World Turns.
Somewhere in there a friend asked me to sub for him at The Lee Strasberg Institute. As I yelled at worked with those kids that morning, I discovered a new love for the art of teaching. I continued at The Young Actors Programs at Strasberg until moving to Los Angeles for more film biz. Since arriving, I’ve co-founded the acting magazine Brains of Minerva and am currently developing an online acting game, Analices. I continue to teach film & acting workshops at various schools throughout LA including St. Margaret’s Episcopal, The Music Academy at Hamilton High School and as a volunteer with the Unusual Suspects.
When I’m not auditioning, writing, or beach-ing, I am ensconced in my Miracle Mile apartment, which I realize I chose because it is situated smack dab in the middle of my two favorite malls. You can take the bluestocking out of Florida…
Press
Profiles
Claire Winters, Quiet Revolutionary by Colleen Wainright on 50for50.us
On the Web, Two Actors Look to Help Their Peers by Christopher Vaughan on Backstage
Spotlight: Brains of Minerva by Jenny Yerrick Martin on Your Industry Insider
Performance
Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare Sedona
“Claire Winters as Hero gives an especially soul-tugging performance, projecting an angelic sweetness…then a quality of authentic anguish…that rises to an almost unbearable level.” – Flagstaff Live
“David Barlow…crucifies Hero, his wonderfully betrothed, portrayed by a winsome but intense Claire Winters. Barlow and Winters are a well-matched pair and among the show’s strongest performers.” – Arizona Daily Sun
The Germans in Paris, Off-Broadway
“…as Heinrich Heine’s mistress, Claire Winters is full of saucy intrigue…” – BroadwayWorld.com
“Claire Winters is lovely and precise as Mme. Morisot’s sister…” Edge New York
Honour, The Sherman Playhouse
“Claire Winters is remarkable in the difficult role of Sophie…heartbreaking as she lets Sophie show her vulnerability to Claudia.” - The Sherman Sentinel
Photo by Andy Riddle
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In the News
Analices
Archives
- July 2011 (1)
- May 2011 (3)
- March 2011 (2)