Cultural Diversity Roster

Iris Bahr is a critically acclaimed writer, actor and director. Having starred on numerous television shows, she is best known for her recurring role as the Orthodox Jewish Girl Rachel Heinemann, that gets stuck on a ski-lift with Larry David on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. Her alter-ego Svetlana has just landed her own TV series that will be premiering on May 27th on HDnet.

Her most recent solo show, “DAI (enough)”, in which she plays 11 different characters in a Tel Aviv cafe moments before a suicide bomber enters, just won the prestigious Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show, (in addition to receiving Drama Desk and UK Stage Award nominations for Outstanding Solo Show and Sound Design) and is currently being adapted into a feature film. Her first solo show, “Planet America”, received an LA Weekly nomination for Outstanding Solo Show and is also in development as a feature film. Ms. Bahr is also the writer, director, star and executive producer of the original TV series Svetlana which will air on Mark Cuban’s network HDnet on May 27th.

Her first work of Non-Fiction is a humorous memoir entitled DORK WHORE, which was released this last Spring by Bloomsbury and has been translated into Italian, German and Portuguese. Her second book, SLUTS IN FLEECE will be published in Germany this Spring.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Iris moved to Israel at the age of 13 and stayed there until completing her military service. She then embarked on an extensive solo journey through Asia, which is chronicled in DORK WHORE: My Travels through Asia as a 20 year old Pseudo-Virgin.

Upon returning from Asia, Iris began her studies at Brown University, where in addition to theatre, Iris studied Neuropsychology, conducting fMRI research at Stanford University and Cancer Research at the Psychobiology Center at Tel Aviv University as well.

Upon graduating magna cum laude, Iris moved to NYC where she decided to focus on acting full time. She completed the NYSF Shakespeare Lab at the Public Theatre and enrolled in the the Actors Center Conservatory, studying with master teachers Earle Gister (Yale), Ron Van Lieu (NYU Tisch), Chris Bayes (Juilliard), Bill Irwin and others, as well as the world renowned Theatre De Complicite in London.

Iris has since relocated to Los Angeles where she has found much success as an actor, comic, writer and director. She has starred on Curb your Enthusiasm, Commander in Chief, E-Ring, King of Queens, Friends, The Drew Carey Show, Strong Medicine, The Agency, Dragnet, The Rerun Show, Star Trek Voyager and several pilots. As a stand-up, she was invited to perform as a new face of comedy at the famous Montreal “Just for Laughs” Comedy Festival and continues to perform at clubs on both coasts. Her directorial debut THE UNCHOSEN ONES, entirely improvised on the streets of Israel and starring Iris as all 5 characters, was featured at the Cannes Short Film Corner. In addition, her solo show “Planet America” about the amorphous nature of American Identity, ran for over a year and was nominated for Best Solo Performance Award by LA Weekly.

Her newest solo show DAI (enough), garnered much critical acclaim and enjoyed an extensive run Off Broadway, as well as a sold-out smash hit run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a command performance at the United Nations. She currently resides in NY and Los Angeles.